THE myth of animal rights is rapidly dissolving. The movement is collapsing through political in-fighting and media hype.

They have tried and failed to sway public opinion with discredited campaigns against farming, fishing, country sports and even keeping pets.

A fringe element believed that the use of hate mail, nail bombs and arson attacks would win the day. A good number of these criminals are now serving prison terms, receiving the justice they rightly deserve .

Locally, Malvern has seen the double standards operated by the animal rights fraternity. When the council proposed to cull the large number of feral pigeons in the town there was an outcry against the plan by a small but very vocal minority.

However, after complaints about rats in Priory Park, the council ordered pest controllers to poison them all.

This has brought about no public demonstrations or even one letter to the local paper pleading to save them.

This is so typical of the cynical attitude common in the animal rights industry - they see the pigeon as being far more "marketable" to the public than the rat.

JON BURGESS, Malvern.