A quick simple email from you can help to end some of the most barbaric animal cruelty practises on this planet!
October 2012
Dear Friends,
Ireland’s animal welfare laws are being updated...and we need people from around the world to tell our government to outlaw, as a matter of urgency, a number of extremely cruel practises that make life a living hell on earth for animals in Ireland...
Three of the worst practises are 1) Fox hunting, 2) Hare coursing, and 3) the use of half-starved terriers and cross-bred dogs in “unearthing” foxes that seek refuge underground from pursuing hounds and hunt followers.
Foxhunting itself is bad enough, with the animals being hounded for hours until exhaustion delivers them to the hounds to be killed in a frenzy of biting and savagery, but the practise known as the “dig-out” is the by far the worst part of it.
This involves hunters using terriers and spades to “dig out” foxes that escape underground during a hunt. The spade men dig deep into the earth and drop a terrier down to attack the fox. The fox and dog savage each other, with the fox usually coming off worse, though the terrier also suffers horrific injuries. The terrier is then pulled back up, usually with its teeth sunk into the still live fox.
The fox is then thrown to the pack of hounds. If a hunt cannot retrieve a fox even after sending a terrier down, a pole wrapped with barbed wire is lowered into the hole and used to drag the distressed animal to the surface. This is immensely cruel in itself but the still live fox is then fed to the waiting hounds to be torn to pieces.
The Government Minister who will push through the Animal Welfare Bill has already indicated that although he does not wish to ban foxhunting itself in its entirety, he is repulsed by the “dig-out” practise and MAY ban it.
This is where you come in, and where you can really help to end this horrendous form of animal cruelty. Please relay the message that Ireland’s image as a nation will not in any way benefit from allowing this appalling practise to continue for one more day.
We attach pictures showing the effects of this “sport”. We are sure you will agree that such treatment of an animal, any animal, is abhorrent in the extreme. One picture shows a foxhunter proudly displaying a fox his dog has “unearthed” and the dog that is, sadly, also a victim of this depraved activity. The other picture shows a fox whose jaw has been broken by hunters during a dig-out.
Here is a brief video clip of a dig out:
And here is a series of slides exposing what happens during a dig-out:
Hare coursing can, and should, also be banned under the Animal Welfare Bill, though a powerful lobby is pressing for rit to be exempted from prohibition. This practice, as you may already know, involves setting greyhounds after live hares in wired enclosures and results in thousands of these gentle creatures being horribly mauled or battered every year by the dogs for “sport”. And of course many dogs also are injured or die in the process. The attached picture shows two coursing fans with a dying hare during a coursing event.
So, we are asking you to send a message (however brief) to the Parliamentary Committee deciding on which amendments to include in the Bill. Please ask the Committee simply to ensure that fox hunting, digging out of foxes, and hare coursing are banned once and for all under the new law.
You can send your message to the entire committee by emailing the members as a group. Following is a block email list of the Committee members. Just paste this list into your address column, or BBC (Blind Backup Copy) or CC column and send your message...
To:
tom.barry@oireachtas.ie, pat.deering@oireachtas.ie, andrew.doyle@oireachtas.ie, martin.ferris@oireachtas.ie, martin.haydon@oireachtas.ie, colm.keaveney@oireachtas.ie, michael.mcnamara@oireachtas.ie, eamon.ocuiv@oireachtas.ie, thomas.pringle@oireachtas.ie
Here is a sample message/letter. You can simply copy this if you wish and email it...or compose your own message. Either way, you will be helping to ensure that one, or hopefully, all of these revolting cruelties are outlawed under Ireland’s new Animal Welfare Act.
Dear Committee Members, I urge you to support amendments to Ireland’s new Animal Welfare Act to outlaw the horrific practises of fox dig-outs, fox hunting, and hare coursing. We have received information on these and are appalled that such cruelty is still permitted by law in Ireland. End of sample letter.
Thanking you,
John Fitzgerald,
PRO,
Campaign for the Abolition
Of Cruel Sports
