RE the letter in the Advertiser of 21 December by Tony Atkinson.

The countryside does not need gamekeepers and shooting to “manage” its wildlife.

Nature can look after that quite well thank you by natural selection.

Re the opposition to Mrs Perriera’s views, could the real reason be the fact that certain people just love to shoot, maim and kill innocent and vulnerable creatures in the name of sport? See fox hunting, badger killing, pheasant shoots, hare coursing, to name just a few blood sports happening every day throughout the UK alone.

Many dress it up as conservation but I wonder is it the need for the bloodlust thrill, prevalent in many humans of destroying another living being? Some even murder themselves and their children, e.g. Dunblane, Hungerford, the latest American school shootings to name but a few instances.

So it is sad, but understandable that animals are not high on the priority list of certain individuals. This is nothing new, but I feel Fiona Perriera is among the many more caring, enlightened souls these days who wish to see the gun banned as a weapon for ending innocent life.

Patrick Lane, Porton.