Letter: Cull of geese at town park is distressing and avoidable

Let's discuss the first part. Presumably, his comments refer to the mess left by the geese making the park 'undesirable' for children. Has Councillor Hewson visited the park? Three of the pieces of play equipment have been condemned and are barricaded; the newest play section has been removed and the slide that circles the tree is unusable due to overgrowth. I think the state of the equipment is a more pressing issue.

Furthermore, the mess can be picked up with an appropriate ride-on mower, not a Stiga that mulches the grass rather than picks up the grass and also the droppings. Also, common sense and parental guidance should make it obvious that children should not touch the mess so health risks should be minimum.

Now for the second part. "People are keen to help us". I live near the park and was not told of any meetings.

All the people who I have spoken to are against the cull. There has been no discussion of ethics nor any foresight at all. It is far from obvious that an expert (individual or body) about wildlife has been consulted. Indeed, when I was at the park at the weekend, the new measures were already being used.

Where are these geese going to go? To Whitchurch canal, or does it not matter so long as it is not their problem?

Why not just collect them all and take them to a wildlife centre? What type of example is this setting to the children? That if something is inconvenient to us then we have the license to do whatever we want?

Is it not distressing to the geese to chase them with a speedboat, especially given young children are chastised for such behaviour?

The premise of the argument against the cull is 'think of the children', from the points I raised above – perhaps you should look closer to home than to the geese.

Name and address supplied