Foot-hunting puts me off visiting Ireland

YOUR feature on foot-hunting and the description of this activity as being the hidden face of Ireland (Irish Examiner Arena, February 22) has put me off visiting your country.

As for describing hounds' cries as music, well, to my musician's ear it is the sound of terror and death as the quarry screams in agony.

In Britain we now have a hunt ban that took 80 years to get through the bureaucracy of the House of Lords and the ruling land-owning classes. It doesn't go far enough, but we animal rights campaigners will continue to fight against the persecution of innocent animals.

As for quoting Grey's Elegy about the ploughman leaving the world to darkness, how apt because that perfectly describes the condition of these heartless people who have no empathy with other living creatures

It seems a ban on hare coursing is not even being considered in your country and it breaks my heart to think the human race - as animal rights campaigner Annette Crosby, the actress, recently said - is "the nastiest species that ever evolved."

Jean Bennington

24 Knowles Ave

Prestatyn

Denbighshire

Wales