To the editor:

After reading the article about the osprey fledglings being removed from their nests to be used to rebuild populations in Illinois, I was hit by a deep wave of sadness.

I have been watching the ospreys here, their return earlier this year, their courtships, building and rebuilding their nests, the long process of sitting on the eggs through torrential rains and winds, then the birth of their young and the devoted care and feeding of them, trip after trip to the water for fish.

Then to think of these family units being broken apart, their parents returning to the nests to find their children gone and the fledglings shipped off to another place, ripped away from their parents. This is not something we would ever, in good conscience, think of doing to another human family. What makes these families any less than? All in the name of trying to salvage a population that was very well ravaged by human folly.

I hope to see the day when more people give birds and other non-humans the respect that they deserve, as fellow inhabitants upon this precious planet, not as pawns in the human race's inability to live in harmony with the web of life.

Carla Lindquist

Westport

Editor's note, Sept. 30: For additional reading on this topic, see the following letters:

"There's more to the osprey story than recent removal," by David Cole, Sept. 9

"Westport osprey relocation will help here and in Illinois," by Gina Purtell, Sept. 16

"David Cole's osprey letter was refreshing and kind," by Carla Lindquist, Sept. 30