The campaign continues, Kildalkey residents assured 28 March 2007 The residents of Kildalkey have been assured by ICABS that the campaign against carted deer hunting is continuing. In a letter published this week in the Meath Chronicle, we conveyed to locals our commitment to securing a ban on the blood sport. Please see below for the letter to the editor. Campaign for end to hunting Meath Chronicle, March 31st 2007 Dear sir - The Irish Council Against Blood Sports wishes to assure the residents of Kildalkey and surrounding areas that our organisation is continuing to work tirelessly to secure a ban on the Ward Union Hunt. Since the early 1990s we have repeatedly called for this loathsome hunt to be stopped on the grounds that it is unlawful under the Protection of Animals Act to terrorise or cause unnecessary suffering to an animal. We have presented disturbing video footage and photographs to successive governments showing the hunt’s appalling treatment of deer. Since the widely condemned Kildalkey incident, which saw a stag being chased into a school playground, we have renewed our appeals to the relevant ministers - Dick Roche and Mary Coughlan - to finally bring this inexcusable barbarity to an end. We have also called for a Garda investigation into the hunt and once again urged the Garda Commissioner to act in the interests of animal welfare and human safety. Hounding a captive-bred, domesticated deer around the countryside of Meath and North County Dublin might have been acceptable behaviour 153 years ago when the Ward Union was formed but it’s certainly not acceptable here in the 21st century. Anyone who sees the state of the deer at the end of a hunt is sure to agree. We urge readers to please join with us in demanding that Minister Dick Roche revokes the hunt’s current licence and refuses any further licence. Yours, Philip Kiernan Irish Council Against Blood Sports, PO Box 88, Mullingar, Co Westmeath. [letter ends] LATEST ICABS ACTION ALERT Please write to Minister Dick Roche and demand that he stop licensing the Ward Union Hunt. Minister Dick Roche Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government Custom House Dublin 1. Email: minister@environ.ie Tel: +353 (0)1-8882403 LoCall: 1890-202021 Fax: +353 (0)1-8788640. Please appeal to Minister Mary Coughlan (she is responsible for animal welfare and the Protection of Animals Act) to intervene to end carted deer hunting. Minister Mary Coughlan Department of Agriculture Agriculture House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 01-607 2000 or LoCall 1890-200510. Fax: 01-661 1013. Email: mary.coughlan@oireachtas.ie More info: Carted deer hunting For more information on carted deer hunting, please visit our Campaigns page. For photos and video, please click on the links below. Carted deer hunting: Photos | Videos News Menu | Join | Top | Home