Lino Farrugia, secretary FKNK, (June 23) finds fault with describing keeping trapped birds in cages as imprisonment, and describes people who describe it so as "emotional".

Despite the fact that being emotional is not a bad thing (to be emotional is human, except, that is, if one is a misogynist who believes that to be emotional debases men), I shall treat the issue in a rational, and not emotional manner, in a way that I hope Mr Farrugia will understand.

Imprisonment, the last time I checked, means confinement or incarceration. Now, when trappers trap birds and keep them in cages, they keep them confined. The trapped birds, given a choice, would escape (which can be tested by simply opening the cage). Therefore, trapped birds kept in cages are imprisoned.

Now here's the part Mr Farrugia and his fellow trappers would find "emotional" while the rest of us would find rational. The only difference between imprisoning humans and imprisoning birds is that imprisoned birds have committed no crime. This compounds the wrongness of keeping birds in cages for life, and is exactly what makes bird-trapping wrong. The fact that calling keeping trapped birds in cages imprisonment makes trappers look bad, does not change this simple truth.