Cruelty and class (From York Press)

Cruelty and class

8:56am Friday 6th April 2007 in Letters By Reader's letter

LIKE Aled Jones (Cruel Game, The Press, April 3), I find cruelty to animals despicable, and his description of the horrific suffering of pheasants and partridges in this country makes very sad reading indeed.

If what Mr Jones says is true, and I am quite sure that it is, then steps need to be taken immediately, by the appropriate authorities, to stop this mindless cruelty.

I doubt whether this will happen, though. Shooting game birds is a sport for royalty, the aristocracy and the rich and famous.

These people are not about to forego this privileged pastime, which they, and their ancestors, have undertaken for many centuries. It's just not cricket, old boy, for a Government to step in and spoil such blue-blooded pleasure.

One thing is for certain, though. If I kept a cage containing game birds in my back garden, the council, the RSPCA and countless other organisations, would be down on me like a ton of bricks.

The bottom line to all this, I suppose, is that class distinction is alive and well in Britain today.

J H Roy, Hadrian Avenue, York.