Madam, - Not long ago, towards dusk on a Wicklow mountain road, I kept vigil for an hour beside the dying victim of a hit-and-run accident.
The stricken creature, a deer, tried vainly to raise his head and body from the road.
Unable to help, and unable to stop crying in pity for the animal, I just kept on apologising for being human, but, realising I couldn't be blamed for that, I apologised instead for driving a car, sometimes faster than I should.
As twilight deepened, the deer dragged himself nearer to the road's edge and with one last effort managed to raise his head and rest it on the verge.
Then he died, and perhaps the last thing he knew was, for one moment, the feel of cool moist grass on his face.
As I left this scene of suffering and death I thought of the countless creatures - badgers, hedgehogs, cats, rabbits, rats - that are killed on our roads, or are injured and left to die slowly in the banks and hedges, victims of a car culture in which they have no stake. - Yours, etc,
RUARC GAHAN,
Knocknaboley,
Hollywood,
Co Wicklow.