Letter: Killer cats

Stephen McGinty and Gareth Rose have written a very informative article on songbirds and their predators. (28 January).

There is a plan to trap and kill crows and magpies and measure the effect on the songbird population. The RSPB as usual, are sitting on the fence, just like they do with wind turbines, and are saying a cull could be illegal.

It is definitely not. The local police wildlife officer will give you a licence number should you wish to trap magpies. The otherwise excellent article is lacking in one important aspect, and I hope The Scotsman is not also sitting on the fence.

I refer to that mass killer the cat. There are 7.5 million cats in the UK and research has revealed that, over a year, 964 cats killed 3,383 birds. Thus the fatalities could be between 15 and 20 million. Cats kill for pleasure - not food. Cat lovers restricting their cat's outdoor adventures would save millions of birds.

Clark Cross

Springfield Road Linlithgow