EVERY time I see the ritual of disinfecting vehicles and plunging wellingtons in buckets of disinfectant, I am reminded of the situation 50 years ago.

We were then witnessing the decimation of our rabbit population by myxomatosis, a viral disease of tumour and mucus, which eventually wiped out all but a handful of the rabbit population.

Scraping the squashed bodies from the roads to avoid skidding was a daily occurrence.

The ferocity of the spread of the disease was comparable with that of foot and mouth.

Rabbits share the same fields as sheep. If a device had to be invented to distribute the spores of such viruses, none would better the rabbit. They recognise no boundaries.

Add to the rabbits, the carrion crows, the rats and the foxes, all attracted to the rotting carcasses, and you have a recipe for disaster.

We spend huge sums of money in defence and armament, but the real enemy at our door is not some corrupt dictator, but the virus in its many deadly forms.

I have a right of way through my garden. Ramblers are forbidden. Rabbits are in abundance and undisturbed.

Let's hope the politicians and the farmers sort it out very quickly. A large dose of common sense would not go amiss.

B Smith,

Droitwich Road,

Hanbury.