Stop treating noble horses with cruelty and disrespect

THE Panorama programme on the fate of racehorses was a shocking insight into the nasty side of a vast and lucrative industry.

How sad to learn of how these noble creatures are treated by their human masters, supposedly the superior species.

For millennia, the horse has been a trusted friend to us.

It has worked on the land as a vital aid to agriculture, carried us before the invention of motorised transport, and, shamefully, was cruelly exploited by humans on the battlefield in countless wars.

My grandfather served in World War I as a horse trainer in a cavalry regiment. In addition to the human tragedy of the conflict, he never forgot and often spoke of the horror he and his comrades felt at the spectacle of dying horses, their pitiful cries audible above the sound of gunfire and shelling.

Soldiers had to put the animals out of their misery, though many could not be reached due to enemy fire and they lingered for hours or days in their agony.

My grandfather believed that horses shouldn’t have to pay the price of humans falling out.

They are still ‘in the wars’, in a sense, thanks to human greed, cruelty, and the perennial lure of gambling.

It’s about time we prioritised their protection and showed some real appreciation for their unstinting, if enforced, service to humanity. JOHN FITZGERALD,

by email. ...THE abuse of horses revealed by the BBC Panorama program is shocking to all of us who care about animals and other living creatures.

All living creatures should be treated with respect, and such cruel suffering should never be inflicted on them.

The Irish connections with these animal abuses was highlighted in the Panorama report. While many in the horse-racing industry treat their animals well, any abuses of animals by humans should be exposed.

Unfortunately, the abuse of humans by humans has become so widespread that such abuses are no longer regarded as scandalous. This banality of evil needs to be addressed.

At least 35 people were killed by an Isis suicide bombing in Baghdad on July 19. Millions of people have been brutally killed in the Middle East or have died due to war-related reasons since the first Gulf War in 1991. Have we become so brutalised by reports of these killings that we have come to accept them as normality?

While we condemn the crimes of Isis and other terrorists, do we ignore or condone the crimes of the state terrorists involved?

Just as there is an Irish connection with the abuse of horses, there is also an Irish connection with the killing of people in the Middle East. Hundreds of US soldiers have passed through Shannon Airport over the past weekend. Yes, they shoot people also, don’t they? EDWARD HORGAN, Limerick.

Katie achieves her goal

I WAS especially delighted to learn that the Australian Government ordered that Katie Hopkins, the English media personality, be deported from the country after her shameful online boast about flouting the quarantine rules while there to appear on Big Brother VIP.

It has always been my belief that Hopkins does not believe half the stuff that she says.

It seems to me that the more controversy she courts, the more she revels in the reactions of her followers and the public at large.

It was PT Barnum, the American showman, who once said: ‘There is no such thing as bad publicity.’

Katie Hopkins is a businesswoman, and having a steady income stream is no doubt her raison d’être.

It’s my view that she has now got her headlines and is no doubt a happy bunny. JOHN O’BRIEN, by email.