SIR – There has been much in the press recently about the RSPB praising the alleged conservation efforts by some shoots, yet nobody has pointed out that certain initiatives are carried out to provide cover for birds deemed to be suitable for target practice.

More than 50 million pheasants and partridges are mass-produced each year to be shot out of the sky, despite there being little demand for their flesh (there are reports that unwanted surplus birds are dumped).

Millions of wild animals labelled as ‘pests’, ‘vermin’ or predators are trapped, snared, poisoned or shot in order to keep ‘game’ birds alive for shoot season (the knock-on effect being that certain other bird species flourish from the skewing of the natural balance of predators to prey) and tons of toxic lead shot is discharged into the environment.

The shooting industry is not an altruistic conservation movement. It’s a money-making business, recognised by the tax regime as ‘sport’ rather than food production, that exists to enable the killing of birds for pleasure.

What kind of enterprise can be good for the environment that callously and deliberately destroys so many other animals?

Fiona Pereira, Animal Aid, Bradford Street, Tonbridge