I WAS deeply offended by the letter from Nigel Davenport (Citizen last week) regarding grouse shoot sabotage.

He seems to imply that people who try and protect birds from being shot out of the air are somehow violent or sinister, when in fact it is their compassion and reverence for life that compels them to try and halt bloodsport.

Hunt saboteurs try to prevent pain and death, using peaceful tactics such as scaring grouse away before they can be shot at or using sheets to block the shooters' view.

In fact, it is the hunters who tend to be violent as they become enraged at being denied the sick pleasure of killing wildlife and take out their aggression on the saboteurs.

Mr Davenport's use of the word extreme' strikes me as ironic. To me it is the paying of thousands of pounds to shoot at living creatures that is extreme not peacefully trying to prevent the unnecessary death of birds!

There is no justification for grouse shooting. The grouse population is kept unnaturally high to ensure that hunters will have plenty of birds to shoot at, and natural predators are killed off.

Gamekeepers have been filmed killing even protected species such as Hen Harriers to ensure that there are plenty of grouse.

Exactly the same pleasure can be had by activities such as clay pigeon shooting but the fact that it does not involve suffering and death means it is not enjoyable enough for some individuals.

Rachel Jackson, Lancaster.