SIR – Paul Chandler (Worcester News, April 1) gives the false impression that greyhounds were only ever bred to “race around a track” rather than for coursing.
He will actually find the greyhound, like its cousins the Saluki and the Afghan, have been with us since ancient times.
The first coursing club was established in this country in 1776 long before greyhound track racing appeared in 1926.
Clearly, if Mr Chandler is wrong about these simple facts, the rest of his correspondence and views are open to some suspicion.
By attempting to connect the street entertainment of bull baiting and dog fighting to coursing, Mr Chandler exposes the porosity of his argument.
As far back as AD116 the Greek philosopher Flavius Arrianus made clear the pursuit of coursing was not about catching the hare.
This ideal remains with the coursing community to this day. Mr Chandler describes my opinions as “mediaeval”
but his demands for censorship of my letters to the Worcester News sound like a dictator from any time in history.
JON BURGESS
Worcester
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