Morrissey’s coursing plea to Taoiseach
SINGER and animal rights campaigner Morrissey is writing to the Taoiseach pleading with him to ban hare coursing, saying it should have been ‘consigned to the history books’.
The former singer with The Smiths has been a vocal animal rights campaigner and vegetarian for decades. The Smiths’ second album was titled Meat Is Murder.
In a letter to Micheál Martin, which it is understood the Taoiseach has yet to receive, Morrissey says he wanted to raise ‘another pressing issue involving cruelty to animals that should have been consigned to the history books long ago: hare coursing’.
Writing ahead of his upcoming gig at the Gleneagle INEC Arena in Killarney, Co. Kerry, Morrissey calls coursing an ‘abomination’ where hares are killed for ‘nothing more than a bet or a lark’.
He writes: ‘As I understand it, Ireland is one of the few remaining countries that allows this abomination to continue.
‘For nothing more than a bet or a lark, thousands of hares are ripped from their homes every year, crammed into netted enclosures, and forced to run for their lives in front of dogs.
‘Some sustain ruptured organs or broken bones when they’re tossed into the air.
‘Others are so terrified they die of heart failure. Surely, it is not hard to see that this is wrong.
‘My friends at PETA tell me that the majority of Irish people support a ban on hare coursing. So please, take heed, because there is something extremely depraved about those who enjoy watching animals being terrorised.’
He ends by saying that the sooner Ireland distances itself from this ‘cruel activity, the better’.
Hare coursing was banned in the UK in 2004 but new legislation there means anyone caught coursing will now face an unlimited fine and up to six months in prison.
It is still legal in Ireland.