Sir, - I note in your issue of October 10th a small paragraph under the heading "War launched on rabbits". It, appears that Australian authorities of some kind have injected rabbits with a new bug called Calicivirus disease in the township of Wagga Wagga. I think this unspeakable act of barbarism should be headlined prominently, perhaps in posters bearing the inscription "From the People Who Brought You Myxomatosis".
Will we, the human race, ever learn? Apart altogether from the unspeakable arrogance of mankind deliberately infecting other species with disease, has nobody stopped to think what happens if and when this illness makes its way into the food chain?
We have just witnessed the results of greed when, in an attempt to stimulate production and create economies, cattle which are natural herbivores were forced to cannibalise their own kind in powdered form, producing BSE. Is it too much to hope that, even from self interest, the human race will at least grow up? I hope many of your readers will register their protest with the Australian Embassy in Dublin.
Yours, etc.,
Seanad Eireann,
Baile Atha Cliath 2.