I refer to the article by Will Dunham entitled ‘World’s last remaining wild horses aren’t really wild’ (February 26). It was a very interesting but also sad, especially to equine inhabitants.

The author wrote about the few remaining Przewalski, which are thought to be about 2,000 wild horses found in Mongolia. Researchers concluded that Przewalski’s horse, saved from extinction in the 20th century, descended from horses domesticated in northern Kazakhstan about 5,500 years ago by people in what is called the Botai culture.

This reminds me of Malta’s national dog, the Pharaoh Hound (Tal-fenek). It is a beautiful dog, with tremendous energy and suitable to run on rough terrain. About six years ago I complained with the minister of agriculture that the Pharaoh Hound breed was fading and that a serious examination, possibly even buying species from overseas, needed to be made, especially knowing that gene pool is too small to be called a pool.

Jan Scotland, a Pharaoh Hound enthusiast, together with other Maltese owners tried to belittle me whenever I wrote about the type and suitability of the Pharaoh Hound and its function. Dunham’s article noted that the future of the Przewalski’s horse, of which there are 2,000, is worrying because of the small number of horses available. Now let’s say, for argument’s sake, there are about 100 Pharaoh Hounds in Malta and Gozo. What does that tell you?

In a broad sense, it is easy to breed Pharaoh Hounds. All you need is a bitch, access to a stud dog of the same breed and you are in business.