IN response to Craig Maher (July 24), and others who have been attacking pigeons and the problems they cause in the town centre.

Call me ignorant, but using arguments such as the birds carrying diseases such as "salmonellosis, tuberculosis and ornithosis" as a reason for people stopping feeding them is just total codswallop!

Just how do they threaten the people of Bolton with such diseases?

If such people insist on using such arguments, then they should back them up with figures.

I would be interested to know the statistics of just how many humans had caught such diseases in Bolton from pigeons?

It could be argued that pigeons threaten the people of Bolton because it is possible that they could peck someone's eyes out, but I have never seen this happen!

Human beings have also been known to carry diseases, but is this any reason to cull their numbers?

I personally do not believe pigeons to be loveable creatures, but unlike Mr Maher, I am not amazed that some people do believe this. Why is this fact so amazing?

Some people like the colour blue, others the colour red, some like spicy food, others prefer sweet food. That is the nature of life! We all have our own preferences, and just because someone enjoys something like feeding the pigeons, it doesn't make them bad or good people does it?

James Devent

Morris Green

Bolton