WELL said Victor May. The pigeons do indeed have as much right as us to exist and in 20 years of shopping and visiting Trowbridge I have never seen them as being a problem.

I like Trowbridge. It is a friendly place, but the trouble that these birds are alleged to cause is nothing compared to the highly visible human mess that abounds in the town.

Cllr James should really take his blinkers off and have a stroll around.

A few months ago I walked the few hundred yards along the river between Asda and the library.

This could be a pleasant riverside walk but in that short distance there were 11 abandoned and rusting supermarket trolleys in the river, along with a multitude of plastic bags, fast food containers, bottles, cans and a mass of general rubbish of all descriptions.

The town centre and other pavements and roadways are covered with an unsightly mess of litter and abandoned trodden-in chewing gum, while graffiti abounds on signs and buildings.

The proposed cull is already headline news on several animal rights' websites and if the council were to concentrate on the more important issues affecting the town, Trowbridge would not become the prolonged focus of protests which will surely disrupt trade far more than the pigeons.

M THOMAS

Bradford on Avon