The Irish State effectively promotes cruelty to animals by permitting and encouraging some of the most inhumane practices ever devised – Read John Fitzgerald's Letter to the Editor in the Irish Daily Mail and please scroll down for action alerts...
Animal cruelty laws require a major revamp
Irish Daily Mail, June 6th 2023
I hope the ISPCA gets a big response to its emergency funding appeal as the incidence of animal cruelty surges nationwide.
However, it doesn’t surprise me that this problem persists, and may be worsening, given the fact that the State effectively promotes cruelty to animals by permitting and encouraging some of the most inhumane practices ever devised.
While ostensibly enshrining the protection of animals, our laws exempt activities that bring cruelty to a fine art…not for pest control or any alleged scientific purpose, but to cater for powerful elites in our society.
Thus, you can’t kick a dog, but you may if you feel so inclined, set off in pursuit of a fox with twenty or thirty hounds, chase the animal for an hour or two, and then stand around watching as the hounds rip their terrified prey to shreds.
The fox is a wild dog with a central nervous system no different to that of any domestic pet canine. Yet our laws allow it to be tortured for human amusement.
The law says you must care for your pet rabbit, but licenses the capture of thousands of hares every year for use as live bait. So, while a bored teenager who’s injured an animal may be hauled before a judge accused of anti-social behavior or causing distress to a non-human, his well-heeled country cousins can travel in their four-wheeled drives to the nearest coursing event without a care in the world.
All creatures - domestic, wild, or agricultural - deserve our compassion. But we’ll continue to have an animal welfare crisis until we remove those exemptions that, to paraphrase a George Orwell character, make “some animals more equal than others.”
John Fitzgerald,
Callan, Co. Kilkenny
ACTION ALERT
Tell the leaders of Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the Green Party to respect the wishes of the majority and ban hare coursing, fox hunting and all acts of cruelty to animals.
Micheál Martin TD
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; info@fiannafail.ie
Phone: 021-432 0088
Leinster House: 01–618 3000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michealmartintd/
Leo Varadkar TD
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: 01-619 4020
Email: leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: http://www.twitter.com/@LeoVaradkar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leovaradkar/
Eamon Ryan TD
Leader, Green Party
Tel: 01 618 3894
Email: eamon.ryan@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EamonRyanGP/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EamonRyan
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eamondryan/