If Sinn Fein can take gun out of Irish politics then they can spare the lives of innocent creatures

A letter from John Fitzgerald:
Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

As a campaigner against blood sports, I am delighted to learn that Belfast City Council has passed a motion calling for a ban on fox, deer, and hare hunting in Northern Ireland (‘Charity welcomes support for hunt ban in face of Sinn Fein opposition,’ January 12, see link below).

The abolition of these inhumane practices is long overdue in both jurisdictions on this island.

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They might have been acceptable in the Dark Ages or when Henry VIII rode to hounds while figuring out how to get rid of yet another unwanted spouse, but most of us have outgrown the need to cause deliberate suffering to animals in the third decade of the 21st century.

The passage of the motion was however overshadowed somewhat by Sinn Fein’s decision to oppose it.

Does this mean that the party has a new-found affection for the recreational pursuits of the English gentry back in the days of what the party perceives to have been an oppressive and imperialistic past?

What a strange ideological turnabout.

Will Sinn Fein leaders now be donning the red jackets and jodhpurs and chasing foxes, hares or deer across the “occupied zone”, bellowing “Tally-ho!” as these innocent animals are cornered and ripped to shreds in Armagh, Tyrone, or the Green Glens of Antrim?

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I urge them to re-think their support for recreational animal cruelty.

If they could take the gun out of Irish politics, they can surely spare the lives of these creatures that grace our natural environment, north and south, and that constitute part of the island’s treasured but increasingly vulnerable wildlife heritage.

John Fitzgerald, Co Kilkenny

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