Uncivilised attitude to welfare of animals

I AGREE fully with the points made by Catherine Galvin (Letters, June 4) about the Irish attitude to animals.

What is it in our psyche that makes us neglectful of cruel to defenceless creatures?

We do not limit this to domestic animals. Recently there was a court case arising from the mistreatment of a horse that had suffered so much it gnawed away at a limb and had to be put down.

Given the size and strength of these wonderful animals, the extent of suffering in that case doesn’t bear thinking about.

But, as we know only too well, when it comes to abuse of animals, we Irish are not very civilised. Our legalisation is weak and we are one of the very few countries that has not signed or ratified the European Convention for the Protection of Animals.

Politicians won’t act because animals don’t vote. Next time you witness an animal abandoned, distressed or abused, please reflect for a moment on the words of the German philosopher Jean Paul Richeter: “Because the heart beats under a covering of hair, fur, feathers or wings, is it for that reason to be of no account?”

Noreen Fitzpatrick

Annmount

Glounthaune

Co Cork