I AM grateful for Dr Bernard Zonfrillo’s explanation of freshly killed sheep during the period that an escaped lynx was present in Devon (Letters, August 9).

The killing stopped when the lynx was recaptured. Coincidence? Also, why the need to introduce llamas to protect sheep if lynx are as docile as he would have us believe?

Generations of my family have been involved in farming and making a living out of the land and this has provided me with facts and not the fantasy rural environment experts would have us believe exists.

It is not by coincidence that I have heard a primary school teacher telling pupils that foxes don’t kill creatures but feed on carrion. It would appear there is a desire to create a fictional Enid Blyton world where there are no predators.

People live and work in the countryside and they are not willing to be turned into tourist attractions just to suit a willingness to return the rural environment to some halcyon, pastoral age.

David Stubley,

22 Templeton Crescent,

Prestwick.