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Before we celebrate our wonderful wildlife in new passport designs, we should lobby our TDs to end the persecution of these animals – Read John Fitzgerald's Letter to the Editor in the Irish Independent...
Irony of celebrating the native animals we subject to appalling ill-treatment
Letter, Irish Independent: July 5th 2023
I see the Department of Foreign Affairs is seeking suggestions on how to highlight our diverse natural environment by way of a new passport design.
A lovely idea, I thought, until I saw the list of suggested animals in the department’s consultation survey includes the hare, the fox and the badger, three mammals that suffer abhorrent ill-treatment, with the full blessing of the State.
The hare can be legally trapped and forced to run from dogs at public venues. The fox can be chased until its lungs give out and exhaustion delivers it to the pack. The badger continues to be scapegoated for the failure of the State’s TB Eradication Scheme.
If we depict the reality for these creatures as distinct from a misty-eyed notion, we would have to show a hare being mauled or tossed skyward on a coursing field, a fox having the skin ripped from its bones or a badger struggling to escape from a snare.
Before we celebrate our wonderful fauna in such a high-profile format, we should lobby our TDs to enact a law to end the persecution of these animals. They have a right to live, and they add greatly to our human experience.
Only then will our long-suffering wildlife win its own passport – to a bloodsport-free zone.
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 bloodsports. Urge them to also stop the Department of Agriculture's cruel snaring and killing of thousands of badgers every year.
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/
Please sign and share the petition
Sinn Fein: Support a ban on cruel hare coursing
https://www.change.org/p/sinn-fein-support-a-ban-on-cruel-hare-coursing