IN their latest "celebration" of country sports or "bloodfest", coursing enthusiasts turned up in their thousands to venues near Newmarket to gloat over the spectacle of hares being torn apart by greyhounds.
This was Greyhound 2000, billed as a "festival of coursing" and a "celebration".
Between the December 11 and 14, some 128 greyhounds were used to chase more than 100 hares - of which 29 were caught and killed. In order to achieve such high numbers of hares in the coursing arena, many would have been driven by beaters for miles, desperately twisting and turning before being set upon by pairs of dogs.
Hares are timid creatures and by the time they had reached the coursing arena they would be both terrified and exhausted.
They are also officially listed by the UK Biodiversity Steering Group as "in decline and under threat".
I expect members of the Countryside Alliance who organised and participated in this sickening event will have been entertained by this spectacle. Normal people less so.
Those who would like to see this kind of mediaeval "entertainment" brought to an end should write immediately to their MP and Prime Minister Tony Blair asking for a total hunt ban now.
The Bill to abolish hunting and coursing is in Parliament now. Now is the time.
MAURICE BRETT,
Bromsgrove,
Worcs.
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