Mountain hares slaughter

Birds of prey are not the only wildlife persecuted to maintain artificially high grouse populations on Scottish shooting estates (Letters, 25 July).

Mountain hares, too, are shot and snared in thousands because they host ticks carrying the louping ill virus, alleged to kill up to 80 per cent of grouse chicks. This slaughter of hares deprives raptors such as the golden eagle of its most important prey and is a greater threat to its survival than illegal poisoning. Mountain hares are indigenous to Britain, but mass culling has virtually wiped out populations in many areas of Scotland.

RODNEY HALE

Chairman, Hare Preservation Trust

Crediton, Devon