Letter: Let’s add stomach-churningly cruel practice of fox hunting to blood sport Hall of Shame
A letter from John Fitzgerald:
I’m delighted to learn that a bill to ban fox hunting in Northern Ireland is be re-introduced via the assembly in the coming weeks.
It was narrowly defeated three years ago when Sinn Fein shocked animal lovers north and south by voting against it.
This time around it stands a far better chance thanks to the increased strength of the Alliance Party, one of whose members is sponsoring the bill.
I suggest that a similar bill be tabled in Dail Eireann, to make the entire island a fox-hunting free zone.
It’s beyond belief that this relic of 17th century Middle England still defaces our verdant countryside. The spectacle of a pack of baying hounds chasing a lone wild dog to exhaustion and death should long ago have been consigned to the history books.
Aside from the stomach-churning cruelty of the practice, there’s another reason why legislation should be enacted as a matter of urgency.
People involved in the even more offensive ‘pastime’ of badger-baiting who are caught interfering with the habitat of this protected species routinely claim that they are in fact just digging out foxes that have gone to ground during a hunt.
They walk free owing to this plausible defence or pretext, both in the Republic and Northern Ireland.
So let’s add fox hunting to the blood sport Hall of Shame that includes cock-fighting, dog fighting and badger-baiting.
John Fitzgerald, Callan, Co Kilkenny, Campaign for the Abolition Of Cruel Sports