As a resident of the Merrie Gardens Estate in Lake, I was interested to read the online article entitled 'Plea to Lake residents not to feed pigeons and seagulls'.

I believe the increased feeding of wildlife recently has led to problems in the area beyond those described in the article.

During the winter, I found rat holes in two locations in my garden, close to boundaries.

There is no food source in my garden, but people nearby put out food for birds and foxes. I bought bait stations and rat poison and it was several weeks before the poison stopped being taken, indicating a substantial rat population in the area.

Over the past few months foxes have been getting into my garden at night, digging holes and damaging fences both by jumping on them and by tearing through the wood panels at the base, despite considerable effort and expense on my part to keep them out.

One evening recently I went into my garden at about 7pm and a fox tried to approach me from the garden next door, presumably having become so tame that it expected me to give it food.

I found this alarming and I now do not feel comfortable in my garden in the evening.

As suggested in the article, it would be good if people could consider potential unintended consequences and the effects on others before feeding wildlife.