Riverview Veterinary Group in Cork has said that it will "review all our sponsorship immediately and ensure that our future sponsorship is consistent with our animal care values".

The statement came after a complaint from ICABS over an advert for the veterinary group appeared in the booklet for the 3-day coursing meeting in Clonakilty last week. The advert stated: “Continued success to Clonakilty coursing - Riverview Veterinary Group Distillery Road, Bandon”.

A spokesperson for the vet group - which has branches in Bandon, Carrigaline, Ballincollig, Kinsale and Clonakilty - stated that it "receives requests from many local groups seeking support and unfortunately we do not always get to review all of whom we sponsor."

At the Clonakilty coursing meeting, pairs of greyhounds were unleashed to chase after hares in a bloodsport which is illegal in all our neighbouring jurisdictions, due to the cruelty involved.

In an email to Riverview Veterinary this week, the Irish Council Against Blood Sports pointed out that coursing is one of Ireland’s worst forms of cruelty to animals. It involves netting thousands of hares from the wild (coursers frighten the animals out into the open and chase them into the nets), keeping them in captivity for weeks or months and using them as live lures for dogs to chase. All for the entertainment of a merciless mob who cheer the dogs on and gamble on which dog will force the hare to change direction first. Every coursing season, hares suffer injuries and die in coursing. The injuries include broken bones, damaged toes and dislocated hips. Hares who survive the ordeal are at risk of later dying from stress-related capture myopathy.

A majority in Ireland want hare coursing outlawed due to the suffering it causes to the timid Irish Hare.

Thank you to everyone who joined us in contacting Riverview Veterinary Group.

ACTION ALERT

With warnings from wildlife experts that the Irish Hare is in trouble, it is now more clear than ever that the species must be given FULL PROTECTION - no hare coursing, no hare hunting, no hare shooting. Urgently contact Minister Josepha Madigan and the National Parks and Wildlife Service and demand that they revoke the 2018-19 hare coursing licence and end all forms of hare persecution.

Minister Josepha Madigan
Minister for Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht
Phone: +353 (0)1 631 3800
Email: josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie, ministers.office@ahg.gov.ie, wildlifelicence@ahg.gov.ie, john.fitzgerald@ahg.gov.ie, Gerry.Leckey@ahg.gov.ie, nature.conservation@ahg.gov.ie
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://facebook.com/JosephaMadiganFG
Tweet to: @josephamadigan

John Fitzgerald
Director, National Parks and Wildlife Service
Phone: +353 (0)1 888 3242
Email: john.fitzgerald@ahg.gov.ie

SAMPLE LETTER
(If you have time, please compose your own personal letter. Otherwise, feel free to send the short sample letter below)

Dear Minister Madigan,

I am one of the majority who want hare coursing outlawed. I am writing to demand that you revoke the 2018-19 hare netting licence that has shamefully been issued.

In coursing, hares suffer and die at all stages - during the capture, during the time they are kept in captivity and during the coursing meetings where they run for their lives in front of greyhounds. Among the injuries recorded are broken legs, damaged toes and dislocated hips.

I ask you to please act on the wishes of the majority, show compassion and end this cruelty.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

[Name/Location]

The Irish Hare is a protected species but an exemption for coursing in the Animal Health and Welfare Act means coursers are not liable for prosecution for their cruelty. Join us in our call to the government to remove the exemption and provide full and permanent protection to this cherished species.

Contact An Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar and ask him to ban hare coursing and give permanent protection to hares.

An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar
Department of the Taoiseach,
Government Buildings,
Upper Merrion St, Dublin 2
Telephone: +353 (0)1-6194020
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie, leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie
Tweet to: @campaignforLeo Tweet to @campaignforLeo
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/campaignforleo/

Please contact all your local politicians and ask them to push for a ban on this blood sport. Encourage your friends, family and workmates to contact them too. Visit the Oireachtas website for names of TDs and their email addresses http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=32&disp=mem Write to your TDs at: Dail Eireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 01-618 3000 or 1890 337 889. Please also arrange a meeting with your TDs at their local clinics.

Support our campaign with a donation
https://www.paypal.me/banbloodsports