I belong to a river based sailing club and came across your article when looking for Goose deterant products on the web.

A) I fully understand and support the Golf Club in trying to find a way round the problem of bird droppings. We have a similar problem at our club.

B) As a club we enjoy looking at the swans, cootes, moorhens and even Canada Geese, when on the water. We don't mind the geese using our hard to stand on however, all our members object to substantial quantities of droppings on the hard near the water. Who would want to spend half a day in a boat with poo droppings on ones shoes and in one's boat?

C) The first 3 letters in the paper responding to this article would appear to be from 'romantics' who like the 'pritty birds' but actually have no idea as to the problems they cause.

The last letter is from an obvious, and proud to be, extreemist. This writer is, in my view, incapable of accepting any argument other than his own.

D)To each of your 4 correspondants I would ask then to imagine themselves living in a house with a garden. In that house they live with their family and 2 or 3 young children, say 4 to 7 years old. Now imagine that garden has a pond which attracts geese and those geese deficate all over the lawn which comes to within 10 feet of your house. And when I say all over the lawn I mean that there is seldom more that 1 foot between droppings.

Can each of the above correcpondants explain how they would regain the use of their gardens each time the children wished to go out to play.

E) As Harbourmaster I have been asked to tackle this problem because of the potential threat of Bird Flu and the risk to members, guests and children who use the club.

F) If anyone has come up with a simple inanimate deterrant please let me know at Nick@Care4Free.net.

May peace be amongst all animals; including extreemists!

   Why do people turn to murder and guns when there is a problem???? Shame on the golf clubs that want to cull the birds. Surely dodging the bird poo will show what a good golfer you are. Come on, don't drive another species to extinction. KJM Manchester

   Leave the poor geese alone! Im sure they can not be causing that much of a mess that they would have to be culled. Anyway they have a right to live on this earth just as much as we do so leave them to it!

   The proof that the birds are a health hazard is quite clear....these people who want to shoot them are sick. The old saying.... ' the law locks up the man or woman who steals the goose from off the common, but leaves the vilain on the loose who steals the common from the goose'.... is quite appropriate, where can the birds go???

   As spokesperson for the North West Hunt Saboteurs Association (NWHSA) and resident of Didsbury I am writing to protest at the proposed culling of Canadian geese at the golf clubs in south Manchester.

Those looking to justify the killing of Canadian geese turn to the use of scare tactics with remarkable predictability. The strategy involves creating the illusion that Canadian geese are a threat to public health. The mere assertion that a 'health issue' exists has been an effective way to generate fear about the presence of Canadian geese and an artificial urgency about what must be done. The origin of this information can usually be traced to something they were told by one or other unqualified parties

In most cases, the health scare does not involve the geese per se, but rather, their droppings. The basis of the argument is that Canadian geese must be killed because their droppings contain human pathogens (disease-causing bacteria). Canadian geese are not carriers of micro organisms (pathogens) that significantly threaten public health.

To date, there are no known cases where human illness can be ascribed to geese droppings. Indeed, only a few diseases can be transmitted to humans from birds.

Thus, it appears that the primary concern is that they are getting in the way when your members try and play.

Canadian geese do not pose a health threat even remotely serious enough to justify their mass destruction.

There are many humane alternative methods of population control. (A good book to read on these methods is: Living with Urban Wildlife by John Bryant ISBN 0 900001 49 6).

Have you tried any of these? 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 laying yourself open to legal action.

* Culling is inhumane and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy: a percentage of wounded and suffering birds is inevitable. * Culling is also very expensive; has to be repeated regularly; and is very unpopular with the general public

If the golf clubs named still intend to shoot the geese, many members of the NWHSA will use all their skills and non-violent direct action tactics to stop this needless cull of wildlife.

Yours

Paul Timpson

North West Hunt Saboteurs Association PO Box 239 Manchester M14 7XB http://www.nwhsa.org.uk info@nwhsa.org.uk