I KNOW I keep banging on about our troubled wildlife in the UK but now I hear that the humble wild rabbit is under major duress as the figure of 36 million rabbits is an overestimation when from 1995 to 2012 there has been a decrease of 48 per cent.

The manmade plagues of myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD1) and (RHD2) are wiping out our rabbits and brown and blue hares.

Our hedgehogs are on the way out in great numbers and our rabbit species is now apparently struggling.

We have to be really careful when we introduce these man made diseases. Myxomatosis was introduced in Australia in 1950 and in England in 1953. If you take out the rabbits in some locations, the eco systems collapse.

Malcolm Rolling, Carrville