I read Pat Dunnill's letter about the rats in the garden and I am not surprised. I read the week before that a cull on urban foxes had been ordered, although I can't understand why.

I used to have rats in my garden. For years they came off the railway bank until one evening I saw a fox in my garden.

After that I put food out every evening and sat and watched foxes come and eat. From that day on I never saw another rat. Foxes are the best pest controllers you can have.

They are on duty 24 hours a day seven days a week and don't cost a penny. Leave the foxes alone.

Jim Heady Somaford Grove, East Barnet