Greens doing best for wildlife
I cannot find merit in the criticism levelled at Environment Minister John Gormley's handling of wildlife issues by John Condren (Letters, May 6) and Aidan Finn (May 5).
Mr Gormley is no more responsible for the killing of legally protected eagles than he was for the volcanic ash cloud over Ireland or the hole in the ozone layer.
Because the minister officially "launched" the white-tailed sea eagles into our countryside does not make him culpable whenever some callous person decides to poison one of these majestic birds.
The wildlife service is dependent on anyone with information on these disturbing incidents to come forward with a view to prosecuting the offenders. Aside from that, the same Wildlife Bill that proposes a ban on stag hunting will double the fines for breaches of the Wildlife Act, including the killing of white-tailed sea eagles.
Mr Finn believes that carted stag hunting is a "harmless and beneficial sport" and that the stag hunters "cherish and protect wildlife in a natural environment".
Hounding any animal for miles across country until it falls down from exhaustion, injured, can hardly be described as "harmless" and cannot be said to benefit the stag.
And the deer used in carted stag hunting are farmed or domesticated animals, not wild in the strict sense of the term.
Attacks on the Greens over their wildlife policies ring hollow when one considers that the present Environment Minister has gone further than any previous incumbent in preserving our natural environment, as evidenced by the upcoming Wildlife Bill.
The Greens could, of course, do even more to protect wildlife in our countryside if Fianna Fail would agree to a ban on hare coursing and fox hunting!
John Fitzgerald
Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports,
Callan, Co Kilkenny
Irish Independent
