More hunters running amok

How naïve it was to believe that the scene of panic and wanton cruelty witnessed in a County Meath schoolyard recently was an isolated incident. The sight of a stag, panting, pain-wracked, and covered in muck, being chased by a pack of salivating vicious hounds, upset and frightened the pupils.

Hunt supporters moved quickly into damage-limitation mode. It was a regrettable one-off incident, they assured us. Now we know differently.

Last week's horror story from a County Cork farm demonstrated just how dangerous and indiscriminate hunters could be in their frenzied pursuit of wildlife. Four children, all under ten years of age, were visiting a farm with their mother when the horses and foxhounds came charging onto the property, terrorising the kids who had been playing in the farmyard.

The lady who had the misfortune to witness the effect of this “sport” on her children told an RTE radio programme that one of her daughters was spattered with muck by the passing horses, indicating the frightful proximity of the hunt to this unsuspecting family.

Hunt incursions have long posed a threat to the farming community, with horses and hounds churning up fields of crops, scattering livestock, damaging fences and causing general mayhem on farms.

But when these relics of a barbarous age also imperil the lives or well-being of children, then surely people in positions of influence…in politics, community groups…at all levels of society… should be shouting STOP.

The present free-for-all hunting situation cannot be allowed to continue. If it is, where will the hunts ride next? Into crèches? Nursing homes? Day care centres for pensioners?

Or just the usual farms?  Farmers don't elicit the same sympathy or support as school children and their mothers, so the hunts can more easily get away with messing up their lives.

Drag hunting is the ideal way of avoiding both cruelty to animals AND incursions onto private property. Since an artificial scent can be laid across a predetermined route, none of the hounds or mounted riders will run the risk of straying onto farms or into schoolyards.

The hunters, horses and hounds can then enjoy the good fresh air and benefit from the exercise, without causing harm to man, woman, child or beast…or vandalising farm property. The riders can blow their horns and shout Tally-ho in a cruelty-free environment.

Another advantage of drag hunting is that it can happen all year round…there is no need for a closed season as no live lure is involved.
 
I suggest that this humane alternative should immediately replace the bloody and irresponsible practise of live animal baiting in the countryside.