Taking the Sting Out of the Ray Is Wrong

* Re “Stingrays’ Points Well-Taken,” June 1:

I was appalled when I read the article about the effort to reduce stingray stings on the beach by removing the rays’ stingers.

As a scuba diver for the last seven years, I have great respect for the beautiful animals that live in our oceans.

I have been diving with stingrays, sharks, dolphins and the like. I always enter the water knowing that I am invading their space and that I take a risk every time I dive. But it is worth it to me to see these amazing animals in their natural habitat. And I leave the ocean as I found it.

Removing the stingrays’ natural form of defense at the convenience of swimmers is wrong.

Although the article noted that there are few natural predators of the rays in the waters off our coast, it doesn’t give us the right to remove their defenses.

Hasn’t anyone considered that swimmers are a predator of sorts if we go after their stingers? Remember, we are invading their home, they are not invading ours.

If you want to swim without the risk of getting stung from a stingray, jellyfish or anything else, stay out of the ocean.

SHERRY BROOKS

Rancho Santa Margarita

* What does this say about our society and The Times, making light of people removing the only natural defense of a wild animal?

A better solution would have been to make the beach off-limits. The stingrays were there before us. How much of this planet do we have the right to destroy, anyway?

JAMES ANDREW CRAWFORD

Laguna Hills