Sectarianism on horseback: now it's a blood sport - Read Fiona O'Connell's column in today's Sunday Independent...
Lay of the land: Sectarianism on horseback: now it's a blood sport
by Fiona O'Connell
Sunday Independent, November 17 2019
Living in a country town means you can almost set your clock by the start of the fox-hunting season, the clippity clop that can be heard from August as horses are made ready to be ridden for rental.
For with this blood sport banned in most countries in the world, tally ho tourism is booming here. Clients fork out big bucks to chase a little fox to death, wearing costumes that hark back to the bygone days of the British Empire.
So no wonder anyone who watches a video taken by the Irish Hunt Saboteurs during a hunt last September might be taken aback to hear a member of the hunt seemingly tell the sabs, as they are known, to "f**k off, you orange proddy b******s, f**k off back to England".
"We're Irish," comes their surprised reply, adding "there's no need for racism". To which the hunter responds by giving them the finger and telling them to "f**k off, you c***s".
It happened as the hunt's pack of hounds was on the heels of fox cubs in a nearby field. "The racist talk was because they aren't used to being interfered with in Ireland," one of the sabs explains.
Or as a commentator says, the hunter "presumes the sabs are English or from Northern Ireland - who, of course, are all Protestant, Orange, Rangers supporters".
Which surely isn't the case with the Northern Ireland farmers who joined forces with the League Against Cruel Sports last month to call for a hunting ban, amid concerns that hunts are behind anti-social behaviour and their hounds present a bio-security threat in the countryside, as well as churning up farmland and damaging boundary fencing.
Though it might resonate with the farmer who watched the video and recalled how a hunt "came across our land two years ago, dogs running everywhere, hurtling through fields frightening our own horses and destroying the land."
The fact that he is from the area suggests that the sab has a point when he adds "unbeknownst to the hunters, most of the folk there that day are more local than they realise".
For those who oppose this blood sport hail from north and south and all social groups. Like the literal lady of the manor in another county on this island who invited the sabs in for tea a few years ago and then returned to the road with them afterwards, wielding a gun that persuaded the hunt to take a hike. "Friends in high places are valuable when we are trying to save animals," as another sab put it.
Though they have friends everywhere, according to a RED C poll conducted two months ago that found 79pc of people in urban areas and 74pc in rural areas believe the Government should ban fox hunting and hare coursing.
Yet the hunter in the video haughtily proclaims that fox hunting "won't ever be illegal here".
Certainly, as long as the same excuses are trotted out by their pals in power, this blood sport - like sectarian abuse - will go on.
Sunday Independent
https://www.independent.ie/life/lay-of-the-land-sectarianism-on-horseback-now-its-a-blood-sport-38699279.html
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ICABS ACTION ALERT
Foxhunting is totally unacceptable in modern Ireland. Please join us in demanding a long overdue ban on foxhunting.
Contact the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and urge him to ban fox hunting.
An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar
Upper Merrion St, Dublin 2
Telephone: +353 (0)1-6194020
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie, leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar
Tweet to: @LeoVaradkar
Contact the Agriculture Minister now and demand that an exemption for foxhunting is removed from the Animal Health and Welfare Act.
Michael Creed TD
Minister for Agriculture
Department of Agriculture
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Email: michael.creed@oir.ie
Tel: +353 (0)1-607 2000 or LoCall 1890-200510.
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaelcreedtd
Tweet to: @creedcnw
Appeal to all Irish politicians
Please join us in telling the Irish Government that it is now time to ban foxhunting. Contact all your local TDs and urge them to push for a ban on this blood sport. Visit the Oireachtas website for names of TDs and their email addresses https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=%2Fie%2Foireachtas%2Fhouse%2Fdail%2F32&tab=constituency
Write to your TDs at: Dail Eireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 01-618 3000 or 1890 337 889. Please also arrange a meeting with your TDs at their local clinics.
Keep hunters off your land
If you are a landowner, make your land off-limits to hunters. Find out more about how to do this on our Farmers/Landowners Page - http://www.banbloodsports.com/farmers.htm Encourage all land-owning friends and family members in the countryside to show compassion and make their land a haven for wildlife. If hunters are denied access to land, the wildlife will be spared the suffering of cubhunting and foxhunting.
Find out more about the Hunt Saboteurs and support their vehicle fundraiser at https://gogetfunding.com/hunt-sabs-ireland-vehicle-fund/