Sir, – Alison Healy reports (Home News, November 20th) that local authorities spending upwards of €5 million on abandoned horses. I am concerned at what I see as the systematic (insofar as it is done in a cold business like manner) and indiscriminate (in that it applies to every abandoned or "stray" regardless of age or health) extermination of horses in Ireland today. In a lot of cases these are Travellers' horses, not all of which are abandoned, neglected, or in poor condition.
The main issue here is trespass – the seizing of horses caught grazing on land without permission; only it is the horses that pay the ultimate price for this infringement of the law. Those people who so readily complain to local authorities about horses need to be aware that horses removed by the authorities are taken away and shot.
I find it hard to believe that in Ireland today we are so callously disposing of these beautiful creatures as though they are unwanted trash. Surely extermination is not the only option open to us? Surely there is some room for manoeuvre and compassion between local authorities, the general public and Travellers, on the issue of horses? – Yours, etc,
MARIA MORGAN,
Harbour Road,
Dromod,
Co Leitrim.