"I questioned Minister Madigan on what veterinary advice she got when lifting the partial ban on capturing hares by coursing clubs. Seems none prior to decision!" - a tweet today from Ruth Coppinger TD, following a Dail Question about the resumption of cruel coursing, despite the deadly RHD2 virus threatening the future of the Irish Hare.
In the Dail Question yesterday, Deputy Coppinger (Solidarity, Dublin West) asked Minister Josepha Madigan "if she received veterinary advice on the partial lifting of the ban on netting hares due to the rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus" and "her views on a possible spread of the virus among the hare population here".
Referring to her decision to lift the ban, Minister Madigan made no reference to veterinary advice.
"I recently made a decision to ease the suspension of the annual licence for the capturing and tagging of hares for coursing meetings on a managed and restricted basis and only in areas unaffected by the Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease (RHD2) virus," she stated.
"In tandem with this measure, I have required a number of field studies to be undertaken at some coursing clubs, which will involve veterinary and virology expertise and input," she added. "These studies, which will be carried out to supplement existing knowledge of the prevalence and nature of RHD2, will be undertaken with co-operation between the National Parks and Wildlife Service of my Department, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and the Irish Coursing Club. The field studies will involve the microchipping and swabbing of all captured hares and the testing of swabs in DAFM laboratories for RHD2. My decisions in this regard were taken following extensive liaison with DAFM officials and officials of my Department."
Earlier this month, Josepha Madigan gave in to pressure from pro-bloodsports TDs and announced that cruel coursers were to be given permission to catch up to 500 hares, supposedly to "assist the study of RHD2 in Irish hares", with a view to “informing the possibility of limited licensing during the coursing season”.
The announcement came just days after it was confirmed that a third hare was found dead with the deadly and highly contagious RHD2 virus which Minister Madigan previously confirmed “has the potential to wipe out the hare population completely”. Her National Parks and Wildlife Service department warned that RHD2 could prove “catastrophic” for the Irish Hare which is unique to Ireland.
Speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland on September 25th, Dr Ferdia Marnell, Head of Animal Ecology at the National Parks and Wildlife Service, stated that the virus can be spread on soil, shoes, clothing and on "nets and boxes" (which are used by coursers to catch and trap hares).
“Unusually with this version of the disease - some animals survive and that, in some way, gives us more concerns because then you may have animals carrying the disease that don’t apparently have any symptoms,” he added. “And that is one of the reasons, I suppose, that we have taken the step of not issuing the coursing licence this year because the risk associated with bringing hares together from various areas and keeping them in a park was considered to be too high a risk to take particularly given that some of those animals could actually be carrying the disease unawares to the coursers.”
Speaking in the Dail a few days later, Minister Madigan stated: “As a Minister, I will not have it on my conscience that I could be responsible for exterminating - for want of a better word - the entire hare population."
She went on to recklessly lift restrictions on the netting of hares for coursing, allowing coursers to net hares "outside of areas where wild hares and rabbits have tested positive for the virus".
The move has been condemned by the Green Party as irresponsible.
“Minister Madigan has an abysmal record on wildlife protection and this decision is a total abuse of power and a reckless act of wildlife vandalism," the party said in a statement. "She is pandering to a minority group of people and amoral backbenchers that support this cruel activity, and it’s risking the increased spread of this fatal disease. RHD2 has been recorded in nine counties and affects both hares and rabbits. It is a highly contagious, fatal disease, which can be transmitted directly through urine, faeces and respiratory secretions, and indirectly via clothing or the nets and equipment used to transport hares. The virus itself is extremely tough and can survive for many months in the environment. To lift the suspension at a time when we are unsure of the extent of the virus is totally irresponsible and poses a significant risk to the Irish hare population."
As the virus continues to kill rabbits and hares and threatens the future of the Irish Hare species, it emerged that not only is hare coursing being allowed to continue, the hunting of hares with packs of hounds and the shooting of hares has not been stopped by Minister Madigan. The “open season” for hunting and shooting hares extends from the end of September to 28 February.
Shame on the Irish Government, at this critical moment, for facilitating the sadistic minority intent on persecuting wildlife, instead of siding with the majority who want wildlife protected and preserved and bloodsports banned. Please respond to, and share, our action alert. Don’t let the fate of the Irish Hare be that of the curlew. The curlew has all but disappeared in Ireland. Not until 2012 when the bird was on the brink of extinction, with numbers having fallen by up to 96 per cent, was a ban on hunting them finally introduced.
ACTION ALERT
Email "I support a total and permanent ban on cruel hare coursing, hare hunting and fox hunting" to josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie; leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar
Government Buildings,
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Josepha Madigan
Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht
Phone: +353 (0)1 631 3800
Email: josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie
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Tweet to: @josephamadigan
Fine Gael
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Sign and share the petitions
Ireland - Ban cruel hare coursing
www.change.org/p/ireland-ban-cruel-hare-coursing
Sinn Fein: Support a ban on cruel hare coursing
https://www.change.org/p/sinn-fein-support-a-ban-on-cruel-hare-coursing
Save Ireland’s hares from extinction
https://www.change.org/p/prime-minister-of-ireland-save-ireland-s-hares-from-extinction
DAIL QUESTION AND ANSWER
23 October, 2019
Ruth Coppinger TD (Solidarity, Dublin West): To ask the Minister for Culture; Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she received veterinary advice on the partial lifting of the ban on netting hares due to the rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus; her views on a possible spread of the virus among the hare population here; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
REPLY
Minister Josepha Madigan: I recently made a decision to ease the suspension of the annual license for the capturing and tagging of hares for coursing meetings on a managed and restricted basis and only in areas unaffected by the Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease (RHD2) virus. In tandem with this measure, I have required a number of field studies to be undertaken at some coursing clubs, which will involve veterinary and virology expertise and input. These studies, which will be carried out to supplement existing knowledge of the prevalence and nature of RHD2, will be undertaken with co-operation between the National Parks and Wildlife Service of my Department, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and the Irish Coursing Club. The field studies will involve the microchipping and swabbing of all captured hares and the testing of swabs in DAFM laboratories for RHD2. My decisions in this regard were taken following extensive liaison with DAFM officials and officials of my Department.