Hunting is a sport to be preserved
Pejorative terms such as “baiting” are used and the reality that greyhounds are now muzzled during coursing is completely ignored. Mr Fitzgerald attacks Minister Brian Cowen for being influenced, in some unsubstantiated way, by a sinister hare coursing lobby.
He concludes by referring to “marketing surveys” which allegedly show that 70pc to 80pc of Irish people oppose harecoursing and want it banned. Mr Fitzgerald does not specify who commissioned these surveys and how they were carried out.
Your readers might ask themselves, is giving in to the will of the majority always a good idea? Hunting is something mankind has engaged in for thousands of years. Humanity as a species could not have survived without these natural instincts and indeed, Mr Fitzgerald might reflect, were it not for hunting he would not exist to write his letters today.
Hare coursing is a traditional Irish fieldsport that sees hound and hare compete in the way nature intended. It is part of our heritage and should be celebrated and not banned.
Philip Donnelly,
Donadea,
Co. Kildare
