Mourning the State’s Hunted, Peaceful Doves

I was saddened to read that each year about 120,000 hunters kill about 1.8 million doves in California (“Hunters Mourn Lack of Quarry,” Sept. 2). Doves have a hard life as it is, dealing with crows, hawks and starlings; they are peaceful birds, which makes them easy targets. Doves are native birds. In my opinion, even though I am against killing any living creatures, shooting starlings would be better because they have caused the demise of many native birds and they don’t belong on this continent. This way, there would be a use to hunting, which I believe is senseless killing.

John Andersen

Temple City