Sir, – The hunting season is in full swing and again landowners are suffering, if not as much as the unfortunate foxes that are hounded to death for a cheap thrill.
A public meeting was called in Charleville, Co Cork recently to air the grievances of farmers whose lands have been entered by hunts which caused extensive damage to property and livestock. Herds of cattle and flocks of sheep were scattered by the rampaging, baying packs, with mounted riders bringing up the rear, knocking fences, battering down gates, and galloping through fields of winter corn.
The problem of hunt trespass resurfaces every season, with these de facto rural vandals seemingly unable to avoid riding roughshod over the rights of farmers and other landowners. “Hunt ban” notices, erected on lands or inserted in provincial newspapers are routinely ignored by the “sports people”, the excuse being that the “fox went that way” so the hunters had to pursue him.
This barbaric practice is long past its sell-by-date. It should be replaced by drag hunting, in which a scent is laid for the dogs to follow, avoiding both cruelty to foxes and the havoc wrought by destructive and unnecessary trespass. – Yours, etc,
JOHN FITZGERALD
Campaign for the Abolition
of Cruel Sports,
Callan,
Co Kilkenny.