DAVID Stocker (Letters, August 2) may be right when he says vast tracks of land benefit from the management of the moors, etc, but at what cost to the thousands of grouse specially reared to be killed?

I learn from a reliable source that many of these beautiful birds are buried after the guns have killed too many for their needs. Would it not be good if land could be managed without the incentive for profit and bloodshed?

Mr Stocker appears to leave no doubt where he stands on the issue of animal rights: he suggests they have none.

Yet millions of people in the world would disagree, high-profile people such as Sir Paul McCartney, Brigitte Bardot, Doris Day, to name but a few, who campaign tirelessly for animals. D Fillingham (Letters, August 3) put it all into words. We have no right to kill and torture fellow creatures under the guise of advances in medicine or just for cosmetics. We need organisations such as Animal Aid to oppose vivisection.

Mrs WP Carter, Marston Crescent, Acomb , York.