Life in the fast lane `is cruel to mice'

The notion of an Irishman banning racing sounds absurd. On learning that he is referring to mice racing, it sounds even more absurd.

Billy Kelleher, a Fianna Fail main government party representative, is leading calls for a nation-wide ban on that little-known sport involving placing a bet on a mouse. Seeing how the rodents run is, he says, nothing short of cruel.

Mr Kelleher made his demand following reports that Galway's University College in Cork had provided runners from its laboratory for a mouse-racing festival. He branded the festival, which is being staged this weekend in the Co Galway village of Ballymacward, "a Mickey Mouse event" and urged its cancellation. "The university should maintain its squeaky-clean image," he said. "Providing mice for a racing festival hardly enhances it. In fact, it damages Ireland's national image. I was surprised that the university should agree to provide mice for the festival, even if it was for fund- raising purposes. It is cruel, and an alternative should be considered."

Mice racing may sound silly, but apparently it is a lot of fun. So much so that seven years ago two Americans, Harvey Coffee, 64, and Bob Dobbins, 63, set up "Gateway Downs Mouse Racing" in St Louis. "My wife thinks I'm a little crazy, but she goes along with it," said Mr Coffee, who breeds the domestic mice in a barn near his home. They take the mice on tour, doing shows at schools, churches and halls. The track is 12 feet long and instead of circuits there are "dashes". The favourite is, of course, "Big Cheese."

Mr Coffee's and Mr Dobbins's mice-racing venture is so popular that it is booked up six months in advance. To help newcomers to mice racing, they publish a racing programme called the Racing Daily News, which provides statistics on each mouse's racing history and comments such as "looking for roses" and "hasn't shown much". Most patrons, however, do not study the form closely, but prefer to go by the names.

A night out with the mice usually includes six or seven races, which are run about 20 minutes apart. Mr Coffee, who used to dance at a certain Casa Loma Ballroom, begins each race by opening one of the "paddock cages" and pulling out a mouse by its tail. He dances back and forth, dangling the mouse by its tail before putting it into a starting gate.

And Mr Kelleher says this sport is cruel ...