"For how long more will organised animal cruelty dressed up as ‘sport’ deface our countryside?". Read John Fitzgerald's Letter to the Editor in today's Sunday Independent...

Ban hare coursing in Irish countryside
Sunday Independent, 26 January 2020

Sir — For how long more will organised animal cruelty dressed up as ‘sport’ deface our countryside? Scenes of sickening cruelty were observed at a three-day hare coursing event in mid-January.

On day one alone, nine hares were pinned down by greyhounds and horribly mauled. Our observer at the fixture noted that even some hardened coursing fans were visibly upset by the spectacle of harmless animals being set upon by the dogs, and the child-like screams of the hares as they were mauled.

Parts of the second day’s ‘entertainment’ were cancelled due to a shortage of hares for coursing after the debacle of day one.

This indefensible ill-treatment of a supposedly protected mammal — the Irish hare — is further evidence that muzzling of greyhounds has not rendered this blood sport humane or cruelty-free, as coursing clubs and sympathetic politicians like to claim.

With the election campaign in full swing, we hope that the next Government will enact legislation to ban hare coursing. It’s time to end this horror show in the Irish countryside.

John Fitzgerald,
Callan, Co Kilkenny