Real animals will be ill-treated for ‘fun’

The shooting of a cat by a jeering youth in the opening episode of the new Love/Hate TV series has understandably shocked animal lovers.

This heartfelt outpouring of revulsion is misplaced. I found the scene objectionable, too, but I would place it in the context of a drama that focuses on gangland thugs who, in real life, would be far too busy peddling drugs and killing each other to be bothered about shooting cats.

What concerns me is that we are into the opening weeks of a new hare-coursing season and that animals are being horribly ill-treated for fun by gangs of so-called sportspeople.