Campaigns: Ban Hare Coursing

It has been banned in England, Scotland and Wales and remains illegal in most civilised nations. Ireland has become one of the last remaining countries in the world to allow live hare coursing.

This despite the fact that successive opinion polls since the 1960s have shown that a majority of Irish people want coursing made illegal. A Sunday Independent poll, for example, shows that eight in ten want this blood sport banned.

In 1993, the muzzling of greyhounds in enclosed coursing was introduced. As predicted by ICABS at the time, muzzling has failed to eliminate the cruelty from coursing. Thousands of hares are snatched from the wild and chased by greyhounds.

Some of the hares will be battered and mauled into the ground by the dogs. Some will sustain injuries so severe that they will die on the coursing fields. All will suffer the fear and stress of running for their lives.

Please join us in telling the Irish Government that it is now time to replace live hare coursing with drag coursing.

This would involve a simple transition from the use of live hares to the use of a mechanical lure. This lure is rapidly pulled along the ground and, through a system of pulleys, is made to emulate the sudden changes in direction made by hares. Drag coursing is practised successfully in several countries around the world, including the USA, Canada and Australia where live hare coursing is illegal.

We urgently need your help. Please respond to our action alerts below and help rid Ireland of this cruel blood sport.

Video: Coursing cruelty

URGENT ACTION ALERTS

Appeal to the Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs

Please write to the Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs and demand an end to the licensing of hare coursing.

Jimmy Deenihan, TD
Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs
Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht
23 Kildare Street
Dublin 2

Email: ministersoffice@tcs.gov.ie [with a copy to An Taoiseach]
Tel: (01) 631 3802
Fax: (01) 661 1201

Appeal to the Minister for Agriculture

Please appeal to the Minister for Agriculture (he is responsible for animal welfare and the Protection of Animals Act) to intervene to end hare coursing.

Minister for Agriculture
Department of Agriculture
Agriculture House,
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

Email: minister@agriculture.gov.ie
Tel: 01-607 2000 or LoCall 1890-200510.
Fax: 01-661 1013.

Please also contact your local TDs/Senators and urge them to put pressure on the Environment Minister to ban hare coursing and to protect the precious hare species from all forms of persecution.

Write to your TD at:
Dail Eireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Tel: 01-618 3000 or 1890 337 889.

Write to your Senator at:
Seanad Eireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Tel: 01-618 3000 or 1890 732 623.

For the names and contact details of politicians, please visit the Irish Government Website at:
http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/.

The victims of coursing

All hares used in coursing are victims and they all suffer the fear and stress of being violently snatched from their habitats, thrown into crates, transported to coursing compounds and kept in captivity for months. Among the hare injuries and deaths recorded are:

• A hare "squealing in distress" after being caught by a muzzled dog
• A hare suffering with "a badly broken hind leg"
• A hare "carrying a hind leg"
• A hare with "a damaged hind toe"
• A coursed hare with a "badly broken hind leg [which] seemed to be in great distress"
• A hare in agony in a coursing enclosure with its leg "almost completely broken off".
• A hare destroyed by a vet after it was found suffering with a dislocated hip
• A hare that died "from knocks sustained during coursing"
• A hare released back into the wild with a "damaged leg" that "could be broken"
• A hare found dead in a coursing compound after succumbing to pneumonia.
• A vet treated three hares for "minor abrasions" and "witnessed three other hares that appeared to die after coursing without any outward signs of injury. One of these was sent to the local regional veterinary laboratory. Post-mortem findings included internal adhesions, suggestive of an old condition."
• Seven hares badly hit by greyhounds, with three dying as a result of the injuries.
• An injured hare with "marks on its back and bare areas".
• Two hares found dead in a coursing club paddock. An autopsy showed that one died from well established pneumonia while the other died from so-called "natural causes". Another died "during transportation from Loughrea to Westport."
• 13 hares hit by dogs and 1 put down because of injuries and 3 died from injuries. Veterinary opinion was that they died "from knocks sustained during coursing the previous day."

Slideshow: the cruelty of hare coursing in Ireland

More information about hare coursing

Coursing: Leaflet | Photos | Videos | Petition

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