A chara, – Jockey Paul Carberry asserts that stag hunting is a “vital part” of his preparation for the Cheltenham Races (Home News, January 2nd), and in his recent open letter to Taoiseach Brian Cowen, he asks what will happen to the deer, the hounds and hunt employees when the hunt is banned.
If the Ward Union were to switch to drag hunting, all Paul Carberry’s concerns about employment and local business would be addressed. Additional concerns about public safety, animal welfare and respect for landowners would also be addressed.
Only recently, a terrified hunted deer jumped onto a public road and collided with a vehicle, resulting in its death. Fortunately, nobody was injured.
The route for a drag hunt is pre-ordained, so incidents of trespass, or incursion onto public roads or spaces are eliminated, while the hunt followers can still enjoy the thrill of the chase across country in a safe and responsible manner.
In fact, the Ward Union hunt uses a drag when training its young hounds, so switching to this humane method should pose no problems. And hunt master Michael Bailey showed he was open to drag hunting in 2004 when he told the late deputy Tony Gregory, who was out observing the deer hunt, “I’m not saying that’s [drag hunting] not a possibility”.
As for the future of the deer, perhaps the Ward Union would consider donating its pure-bred red deer herd to the nation. I’m sure the National Parks and Wildlife Service would find a place of sanctuary for them where they can live out their lives in peace, safe from human persecution. – Is mise,
Madam, – James Moran (January 11th) refers to the UK ban on hunting with hounds. He is right to mention the invasion of Iraq in a letter on banning hunting.
Like many hunt supporters in Ireland, I followed the UK debate closely. It was a breathtaking misdirection of energy and time. More than 700 parliamentary hours were spent on curtailing hunting. The decision to invade Iraq accounted for far less time (about 45 hours). We also know that the hunting ban was Tony Blair’s sop to his backbenchers in order to win their support on the Iraq invasion.
In Ireland, a parallel situation exists in which a ban on stag hunting is the price demanded by the Green Party for its continued support of the current Government.
In the acres of newsprint devoted to the issue leading up to the UK hunting Act, a number of people (most notably the late Sir John Mortimer) pointed out that the first country in Europe in which hunting had been banned was Nazi Germany.
Most people considered this an interesting piece of trivia, but nothing more.
However, on reflection, we see that the government that banned hunting is also the government that took part in a legally questionable war on the back of flimsy evidence, and a discredited dossier and in which, in addition to thousands of British and American soldiers, uncounted innocent Iraqis lost their lives.
It appears Sir John was on to something. – Yours, etc,