Ran their hearts out to win
I WILL forever be haunted by the images from ABC TV’s 7.30, of those poor horses being beaten and sent to the knackery. Horses are such intelligent and gentle creatures and many of those suffering this awful fate were once champion racehorses, who ran their hearts out to earn their owners big money. Is this the way that they should be rewarded, now that they are no longer profitable?
It also beggars belief that abattoirs and knackeries would hire anyone who derives some sort of sick pleasure from beating and torturing innocent animals. Is it not enough that the scent of death hangs in the air, unnerving these perceptive animals and alluding to the fate that awaits them? I would have thought empathy, compassion and gentleness would be prerequisites for such a job.
We can only hope the state governments step in to abolish this heinous practice and severe penalties apply to those who continue it. While we’re at it, let’s also look at the horse racing industry and control the amount of horses being bred for racing purposes. You don’t need to be an animal-rights activist to know that what is happening here is very, very wrong.
RSL questions
WHAT is happening with the Glenorchy RSL? The silence is deafening, since the club closed its doors and the for sale sign went up, there’s been nothing mentioned in any media platform. Questions need to be asked, why was the club in debt? No input from the Glenorchy City Council, no sign of the politicians that were frequently there around election time. Something certainly doesn’t smell right, it could well be the rotting corpses of those brave Diggers who helped build and establish the club turning in their graves.
Rosny Hill rubbish dump
TO all those who are opposed to the Rosny Hill hotel development, have you been to the area lately. It is a disgrace, a racetrack for hoons, a rubbish dump for needles, condoms, beer cans, the list goes on. The so-called friends of Rosny Hill, you are not living up to your title. An excellent development has been proposed that will provide accommodation, dining, amazing views, and persevere the area for generations to come. You need to look forward, progress is a good thing. You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines whimpering and complaining, you make progress by implementing ideas. Without change progress is impossible.
Propping up hotel
READER H. Stevenson points out the demise of many of our old pubs and describes the change of many of their facades (Letters, October 14). Surely, to gain some time in the process of saving the veranda on Hunters Hotel in Queenstown, the council could restrict parking in front of the building and reduce the possibility of a car hitting the veranda posts. If the filled in ends of the veranda were removed, that would reduce a considerable weight on the corner posts. The removal of these later additions (probably bathrooms) would greatly improve the architectural merit of the whole building.
Dams won’t bring rain
AUSTRALIA’S farmers are struggling with a lack of rainfall to grow their crops and keep their stock alive. Our Prime Minister Scott Morrison has a plan to “drought proof” Australia by building more dams. “Build dams and the rain will come.” Also, people in Australia are facing a looming financial crisis because our household debt has reached 120 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product and the priority of the Government is to have a surplus, no matter what. If building dams will make the rains come then Scott Morrison should “financially proof Australia” by building more banks. “Build more banks and the bigger surplus will come.”
Logging short-sighted
THE world is protesting the destruction of Amazon rainforests. News has reached us of illegal land clearing in NSW. Now we read of the arrests of young people in the Tarkine who are trying to defend the rainforests against the short-sighted policy of allowing logging. What a cynical attempt to curry favour in marginal constituencies in the North. Do our politicians really believe that, with concerns over climate change, we need fewer trees and the destruction of rainforest areas? How does this equate with clean, green and pristine?
Correction
ON Saturday the Mercury reported that Colin Bernard Press, 65, had raped a woman in her front yard. That was an allegation. As we also reported, Mr Press had pleaded not guilty to the rape charge but died before the case reached trial in the Supreme Court in Hobart. That was expected to happen next month.