IT REALLY makes me sad to think that some people will actually stand and count Canada geese just so they can strengthen their dislike for these birds (Canada geese are "flying vermin", Soapbox, September 17).

Rowntree Park was constructed to attract water fowl - that is why they put a lake in it.

Canada geese are a bit like tourists, they come and go.

Just to strengthen my case, I observed 50-plus of the bandits heading south on Saturday morning, no doubt to have an aerial bombardment on some other park with a lake.

These are local people who seem to do all the whinging, and if they can't tolerate a bit of goose muck on their shoes, why do they go there in the first place?

We used to have peacocks in the Museum Gardens, and it was the whingers that got them removed for the same reason. So I hope the council carry on pussyfooting and leave the geese alone.

As for catching diseases, you have more chance of catching one in hospital.

F A Carter, Marston Crescent, Acomb, York.