Meaty response (From York Press)

Meaty response

9:24am Thursday 28th September 2006 in Letters By Reader's letter

IT WAS interesting to see Robert Ackroyd blame meat-eaters for global warming (Save planet by giving up meat, letters, September 22). What next will vegetarians come up with?

I am a carnivore, but my favourite meats are probably wild rabbits, pigeons and wild geese; all of which are vermin and, if not controlled in some way, can cause enormous damage to crops intended for human consumption.

Am I to be denied these excellent sources of protein and, because they are not being controlled, add to the amount of factory farming of vegetable crops in an effort to feed ourselves?

Balance is needed in all things, including looking after our environment.

If not for cattle and sheep, our countryside, especially the marginal farming areas, would soon become unattractive wastelands.

Take away the excellent animal manure used to condition and fertilise our fields for edible crops, and we shall have to manufacture more chemical substitutes at much greater detriment to the environment.

It is not just the over-50s that need to rethink rather than change their ways.

Some of our so-called pressure groups need to take off their blinkers and add a bit of lateral thinking to their grand ideals.

Alec Acomb, Hillcrest Avenue, Nether Poppleton, York.