I T'S good to hear another point of view, and having read Clive Heath's letter of September 11, I would have to agree and say that to kill something for pleasure is cruel. But I suspect we must agree to disagree on hunting.

The green parts of our island are in danger and maybe having 'areas' where hunting continues so that those areas – and all of the associated flora and fauna therein are protected (or managed) – may be the lesser evil to do the greater good. It is a debate that we are now seeing all over the world, and maybe it's about time that the public had that discussion.

Of course, raising the debate on killing animals for hunting or food, and also how and where our food comes from, and we're into a whole new ball game. It is something that the authorities and the large corporations (who make political contribution) and who have government steering groups would prefer us not to discuss. It is bringing attention to something that does have moral and ethical questions.

These things are very difficult to get into the public domain; look at what Jamie Oliver had to do with nutrition and Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall did with chickens...

I accept that people care. Some people care about fluffy bunny rabbits and cuddly creatures with their Bambi-esque images collectively utilised to help with an argument. I don't mean this in satirical or disrespectful way for the anti-hunting viewpoint, but we could discuss the ethics of animal husbandry and animal welfare and the 'morality' of killing to eat and killing for entertainment all day.

When it comes to ethics and conservation, put large animals like elephants and leopards or stags and foxes on the telly and you'll get support. Flash a scary beetle, a worm or a bacteria across the screen and people lose interest. Many of those same folk are consumers and they patronise certain companies whose green record around the globe is questionable, if not criminal.

Morality can be brushed aside.

Ironically, our survival as a species depends on Mother Nature. All of the natural process that the Earth provides in order so that the creatures and the environment renew, rejuvenate and grow cannot entirely be replicated by man.

We do not have the technology to do it and we could not do it on the scale required – but that is another discussion (and I have to add that if the natural pollination of the plant kingdom by bees and other pollinators stopped, then the world would begin to collapse).

The British Isles are not the African continent. But I do wonder if an African game reserve decided to allow a fee-paying hunter to kill a lion for £20,000 in order for it to continue as a reserve, is that right? We're not talking about one type of creature, but all of the other species on that reserve. It is something we may yet see in our future – and for some it may be a hard principle to accept. Any sentient creature can feel pain, but I would not ban hunting.

C Stephens,

Pucklechurch.