SIR — The recent reports of a Norfolk gamekeeper who was being prosecuted for poisoning birds of prey set my alarm bells ringing. I have recently been walking the rights of way in West Somerset for the injured badger patrol. It struck me and my fellow patrollers that the area we patrolled was largely dedicated to pheasant shooting and not dairy farming, which we found surprising considering the badger cull is all about controlling Bovine TB! Could it be that the badger cull area has been selected due to the need to eradicate badgers from pheasant shoots like the birds of prey in Norfolk? It is clear when patrolling that the pheasant feed would be eaten by the badgers, as would possibly the pheasants themselves, and so cause a problem to the shooting landowner. Has this recent headline exposed the activity of farmers and landowners to kill any competitive species who may eat a hole in the pheasant shooting profit? Was there an alternative reason for West Somerset and Gloucestershire to be selected as the badger cull areas? There has to be some explanation to this mad badger cull as all the evidence is that it is not helping dairy farmers reduce Bovine TB nor is it showing that shooting is a humane way to kill. Perhaps it is about increasing large estate owners profit on pheasant shoots. The judge's statement will resonate with me for a long time . . . "Nature should be able to live side by side with such activities as pheasant shooting." But does it? Jo Smoldon, Chedzoy.