Letters: De-horn the New Forest cattle before someone gets killed

SIR - It never fails to amaze me just how upset a commoner/farmer gets whenever some of their animals attack someone on the open forest and they have to have send them to be slaughtered.

These are not pets; the only reason they are turned out to overgraze the forest is to make someone money.

What do the people who can't wait to write in and bash the dog walkers think is going to happen to them anyway? It's only a matter of time before someone is killed.

With 74 people killed in the last 15 years by cows the Health and Safety Executive have advised farmers where ever possible not to put cows with calves in fields with public access.

Yet in recent years we dog walkers have to run the gauntlet of large herds spread out over big areas of the Forest.

At the very least all cattle on the forest should be de-horned.

D Munday, Hythe