There are renewed calls for a ban on hare hunting, after it emerged that a hare was forced to desperately run for his life from a pack of 18 dogs during a shameful hunt in County Westmeath.
A sickening report in the current edition of Countrysports and Country Life magazine, describes how at a 90-minute hunt which took place close to Lough Ennell near Mullingar, the pack of beagle hounds were “but a short distance behind a fine, big hare”.
Doing everything he could to stay ahead of the dogs, the unfortunate hare “was constantly taking sharp turns to left and right, and doubled-back a few times”.
According to the report, the hunters lost the scent of the hare a few times but after bringing the pack “back to where we guessed the hare might have taken one of its turns”, the hunt resumed.
How despicable that the government allows the Irish Hare, one of our most inoffensive and iconic creatures, to suffer this persecution. Hares should be given full protection - not only due to the cruelty involved in hunting (they are chased to exhaustion and when caught, are torn apart by the hounds) but also in light of warnings from wildlife experts that the species is “in trouble”, with numbers declining.
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. Urgently contact Minister Josepha Madigan and the National Parks and Wildlife Service and demand that they stop hare hunting, hare coursing and hare shooting.
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
Contact An Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar and appeal to him to act to save hares from all forms of hunting.
An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar
Government Buildings,
Upper Merrion St, Dublin 2
Telephone: +353 (0)1-6194020
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie, leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie
Tweet to: @LeoVaradkar
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/campaignforleo/
Please get in touch with all your local politicians and ask them to push for a ban on hare hunting and all blood sports. Visit the Oireachtas website for names of TDs and their contact details 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.
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