Madam, – With the banning of its cruel activity on the political agenda, Ireland’s stag-hunting with hounds community has blown the horn to rally the troops to fight this action (Home News, November 21st). If it were not so serious it would be laughable. Where can Ireland’s hunting community locate a solid defence for an activity that has been shown to be cruel, inhumane and totally unnecessary for the protection and survival of our deer population?
Mass rallies and political lobbying campaigns are planned by these rural deer chasers. The intention is to create a charade that hunting with hounds is a vital element of our society and it should not be consigned history’s skip. Given that the majority of Irish people find hunting with hounds cruel, it will be interesting to see this campaign unfolds.
We could be spared this pantomime if the Irish hunting community accepted that hunting with hounds is an activity that does not have any long-term prospects. It would save a lot of time and media space if hunters accepted their fate and started the process of converting live hunting packs to drag hunting packs across all the various disciplines of hunting with hounds.
The ban on stag-hunting with hounds will come to pass and in its wake will be a ban on all forms of live hunting with hounds. – Yours, etc,