A licence to net hares for cruel coursing was issued by the Minister for Arts and Heritage Josepha Madigan despite the identification of the deadly Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease (RHD) in wild rabbits for the first time in Ireland and warnings that Irish Hares were vulnerable to the deadly disease.

Documents obtained by ICABS this week under Freedom of Information show that the licence was granted to coursers on 8th August and suspended the following day when the highly infectious RHD2 virus was discovered in a hare.

The licence had been recklessly granted a week after the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) were told that RHD2 was identified in rabbits and that hares were “vulnerable”.

In an email to the Minister Madigan’s NPWS division, Conservation Biologist Dr Neil Reid of Queen’s University Belfast stated: “We have confirmed Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease virus (RHDV) strain 2 in Ireland in a wild rabbit from Avoca, Wicklow. From Europe and Great Britain, hares both timidus and europaeus are vulnerable with notable recent 2018/19 die-offs in the latter throughout England.”

In a tweet on 9th August, Minister Madigan announced that “RHD - a disease fatal to rabbits and hares, but of no risk to humans, has been confirmed in the wild in Ireland for the first time [and] the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has decided to suspend the licences issued to the Irish Coursing Club with immediate effect.”

An accompanying NPWS statement that same day outlined that the infected hare was seen by a visitor to Wexford Town - “the hare ran around in circles and fell down, then got up again and ran around in circles again and fell down.” The NPWS statement warned that the disease could prove “catastrophic” for the Irish Hare and that “the catching of hares in nets [by coursers], their transportation in boxes and the collection and holding of hares in confined areas can all be considered to increase the risk of disease spread”.

Why did Minister Madigan issue the licence to the coursers when her department was aware that hares were vulnerable and that the disease could have a devastating impact on the species? She granted the licence while she and her department were awaiting the results of tests on the dead Wexford hare which confirmed RHD2 was now present in the Irish Hare population.

Meanwhile, a Department of Agriculture representative who, despite the seriousness of the situation for the Irish Hare, appeared not to be focused on eliminating the impact coursing clubs could have on spreading the disease, but rather on reducing it.

In a 9th August message, he presented the possible vaccination of hares as a way to “theoretically have potential to limit the impact of coursing activities on the geographical spread & dissemination of the virus” and went on to state: “Before it gets anyone’s hopes up, [the vaccine is] not commercially available in Ireland – both factors likely to translate to a long lead time [and] effectiveness, and indeed safety, [are] unproven in any species of hares (developed for rabbits)”

A National Parks and Wildlife Service representative replied to say: “I had read a bit about the vaccine. Seems unlikely to be a viable option”.

Minister Madigan and her Department must now act exclusively in the interests of protecting the future of the Irish Hare and disregard pressure from coursers to lift the suspension of the licence which would allow them to net thousands of hares, hold them in captivity (thus increasing their vulnerability to disease) and use them as live lures for their cruel blood sport.

Coursers, are outrageously presenting themselves as “custodians of the Irish Hare” but it is the vast majority of Irish people - who love and respect nature, who want the Irish Hare to survive and who want coursing banned - who are the custodians. Hare coursing is totally incompatible with effective disease prevention and must now be considered a permanent risk to the well-being and future of our unique and much valued hare. We will not accept any return to the licensing of a bloodsport which targets one of our most vulnerable species.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service is due to meet coursers this Monday, September 16th. Join us in urging Minister Josepha Madigan to not only keep the suspension of hare netting in place but to announce a permanent ban on coursing and all forms of hare hunting, including beagling, harrying and shooting. It’s time for the Irish Hare to finally get the protection it deserves.

URGENT ACTION ALERT

Contact Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister Josepha Madigan and urge them to announce a total and permanent end to all hare coursing and hare hunting in Ireland.
Email "Permanently end cruel hare coursing and hare hunting NOW" to josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie; leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie

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; finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: @LeoVaradkar
Leave a comment on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar

Josepha Madigan
Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht
Phone: +353 (0)1 631 3800
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://facebook.com/JosephaMadiganFG
Tweet to: @josephamadigan

Fine Gael
51 Upper Mount Street
Dublin 2
Tel: 01 619 8444
Email: finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to @FineGael
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FineGael/

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