TWO letters in last week's Target suggest that I am proposing to set the birds in the Central Park aviary free.

I would not be so foolish as to suggest that. If my proposal were adopted I would see the birds transferred to a much bigger aviary and then, as they died naturally they would not be replaced and, gradually, the idea of birds in cages, big or small, would die out.

I do not accept that birds should be kept in cages merely because people like to see them.

Nor can I accept Mr Matthew's idea that "anyone can see the birds are happy".

Cruelty cannot be justified just because some people (not all) obtain pleasure from it.

John Richards

Vauxhall Road, Boston