Hundreds of double-crested cormorants have been purposely and legally shot to death on Lake Waconia's Coney Island because, and only because, they're perceived as inconvenient ("Island is empty without its nesters," May 16).

Cormorants are neither dangerous nor invasive. They come to mate, nurture their young and prepare to migrate. All they want to do is stay alive. Now people seem puzzled about why the cormorants haven't returned this year. Do these people think birds are stupid?

CHRISTINE LEWIS, MINNEAPOLIS