Sir, - The Irish Council Against Blood Sports is this month calling on the Irish Government to show ifs support for Irish wildlife by taking a firm stand against blood sports which cause stress, injury and death to thousands of our native creatures every year. As fox hunting, hare coursing, stag and hare hunting with hounds get under way again, ICABS appeals for greater protection for wildlife and an immediate ban on the barbaric animal abuse which continues to be a blemish on Ireland's image.
Over the coming months, rural Ireland will see foxes chased to exhaustion by hunters and dogs in a cruel hunting routine which culminates with foxes being torn apart, limb from limb. Hares will be taken from the wild, kept under severe stress in the alien surroundings of pens, and eventually forced to run for their lives before trained greyhounds. Despite legislation requiring greyhounds to be muzzled, the Irish Council Against Blood Sports has evidence to show that hares are still being brutally mauled.
Terrified stags, meanwhile, will be chased cross country for hours on end until they are so exhausted that they can run no more. This "carted" stag hunting subjects majestic male deer to such a gruelling run that the unfortunate animals are severely at risk of dying from heart failure.
We firmly believe that such inhumane treatment of wildlife should have no place in a modern, civilised society. We hold that the majority of Irish citizens are compassionate people who naturally abhor violence towards fellow living creatures. We call on the Government, therefore, to take immediate steps towards ending this mass terrorisation of our wildlife. - Yours, etc.
Spokesperson,
Irish Council Against Blood
Sports,
30 Austin Friars Street,
Mullingar, Co Westmeath.