How fish feel
From Stephen Grieve Sir: I suspect that Geoffrey Wheatcroft is unscientific in saying that only an ethical imbecile could 'pretend' that there is no moral difference between fox-hunting and fishing ("Death to Iraqis, but not to foxes', 20 November). As I pointed out years ago in Trout and Salmon under the editorial title 'Lobotomised Fish', there is a distinction to be made between feeling pain (or fear) and suffering it. I do not know whether it is still done. but there used to be an operation in which patients suffering severe intractable pain could have the link between the frontal cortex and the thalamus cut, with the curious result that they reported that they still felt the pain but that it no longer bothered them. It is true that fish are distinctly lacking in the frontal cortex department, and this would seem a merciful aspect of nature. Pain is sensory, suffering is emotional.
As to fox-hunting, I have never been able to arrive at a definite view one way or the other. However much I find that reason and tradition draw me to the hunt side. I remain uncomfortable.
Stephen Grieve
Reigate. Surrey
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