Stoning swans part of wider problem

THE recent sickening cruelty to swans on the River Barrow in Co Carlow, where teenagers stoned the birds and inflicted horrific injuries, is part of a pattern of abuse extending across the whole country. Earlier last week, a dog was doused with petrol, set alight and tossed over a wall in Finglas in Dublin.

Not a day passes without us hearing about animals being ill-treated in one way or another. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of these incidents should contact the gardaí. I blame to some extent the fact that we have legal cruelty to animals in the form of so-called field sports like hare coursing, fox-hunting and stag-hunting.

It’s not easy telling young people or children that cruelty to animals is wrong when seemingly responsible adults are seen deliberately to torture or terrorise them for fun.

One of these “country pastimes” – stag-hunting – is thankfully soon to be banned, but that’s only because the Greens happen to be in government. Previous governments have not only condoned this cruelty – they’ve actively promoted and encouraged it, and leading politicians attend hare-baiting sessions. Will we continue to condemn “young thugs” while respectable society engages in gratuitous cruelty to animals in the name of “sport”?

John Fitzgerald

Lr Coyne Street

Callan

Co Kilkenny