ANIMAL PSYCHIATRY

Sir, - I have just been reading that Harry the gorilla, who resides at Dublin Zoo, is being. treated by no less than three psychiatrists for his depression.

Wonders never cease. Perhaps similar treatment will now be made available for animals involved in other forms of human "entertainment". Every coursing club should have its resident psychiatrist to oversee the welfare of its captive hare stock. Each hare could be counselled by an expert who would seek to ensure that the animal was of sound mind prior to being coursed. it could then be ascertained whether or not a hare was mentally fit to have its intestines ripped out at a coursing or blooding session.

Foxes would also benefit from such attention. The psychiatrist could ride ahead of the other sports people with a pair of binoculars to observe the quarry's behavioural patterns as it dashed across country. This would enable him to determine if the fox was psychologically prepared for the experience of having the skin ripped off its bones by the pack.

I suppose there's a lot to be said for extending psychiatric care to wild animals. A more ethical proposition, however, would be to close down Dublin Zoo, abolish hare coursing, and impose a ban on the pursuit of the "uneatable" by the "unspeakable". Animals have suffered enough at the hands of the most destructive species ever to inhabit this planet. - Yours, etc.

Lower Coyne Street,

Callan,

Co Kilkenny.