I WRITE in response to the article in The Sentinel on January 2, headlined 'Thousands of geese culled in city parks'.

I can't see any sane reason for the killing of these birds.

There are humane alternative methods of population control if numbers really are a problem, such as:-

Restricting the feeding of geese to certain areas, which can then be kept clean;

Habitat management (make access to water less easy or less visible by planting bankside vegetation);

Limited egg-control (whereby eggs can be prevented from hatching but one should always be left unharmed, for humane reasons and also because geese will lay another batch if no eggs hatch out).

Have any of these been tried? The Wildlife and Countryside Act states that anyone applying for a licence to kill Canada geese must be satisfied that non-lethal methods of population control are either ineffective or impracticable before a licence to cull can be relied on.

If you haven't attempted non-lethal measures, then you are leaving yourself open to legal action.

People enjoy seeing Canada geese and scientific studies show that the numbers are now balancing out.

The matter of goose droppings being a problem is just a non-starter. Do we kill any animal that fouls in a place that we may happen upon. Madness. Please call off the slaughter of Canada geese.

DAVE RIGBY Harriseahead