HOW those keen supporters of all bloodsports do love to portray themselves as dedicated conservators of the countryside, (Oxford Mail, View Points, August 2).

Is it so impossible for them to imagine that other organisations and individuals could, or would, undertake the task of ‘rotational burning of small patches of heather, which benefits a unique assemblage of wildlife’ without actually aiming to make sport of target species.

According to the letter from Adrian Blackmore of the Countryside Alliance, it apparently is.

The popularity of environmental organisations offering opportunities for conservation is I suggest, greater than those dedicated volunteers who are so keen to conserve good shooting habitats to satisfy their seemingly unquenchable bloodlust.

And yes, David Stocker, it is widely known and accepted by the large number of people who hold that all life is sacred and that the life of an animal is morally equivalent to that of a human being.

And why not? Believe me, the life of a vegetarian is very healthy, however perverse that may seem to him.

BEA BRADLEY Cuxham Road Watlington