There are renewed calls for a ban on cruel hare coursing after newly released documents show that a hare suffered a BROKEN BACK during a coursing meeting in County Laois.
According to documents published on the National Parks and Wildlife Service website, the hare suffered the horrific injury after being pinned to the ground by greyhounds during the Borris-in-Ossory/Rushall/Rathdowney coursing meeting in January.
A NPWS ranger who monitored the cruelty event stated in his report that the hare was inspected by the coursing club’s vet after being pinned and “appeared to be healthy at that time” but “when this animal was taken from the box for release, it could not move its hind legs.”
“At that point, the local coursing official and the NPWS ranger contacted the vet immediately to re-examine this particular animal,” the ranger continued. “The vet re-inspected this hare and determined it had a broken back. This animal was then euthanized by the vet. I observed the dead hare.”
The hare was one of 11 hit by greyhounds at the shameful 3-day event. Four of them were examined by a vet for injuries.
On the previous day, another hare was caught and pinned to the ground by a greyhound. The ranger commented that “it appears the dog could ‘pinch’ the skin of the hare enough to hold it”. This hare, he stated, “was quickly taken from the dog by the local coursing officials [and] later examined by a vet who determined this hare had no injuries”.
The ranger noticed that “this hare had what appeared to be lesions around the snout and mouth” and was told by the vet that this was “a condition call Orf”. He said that the vet later gave this hare an injection of Metacam [a pain killer]”. Orf is a contagious viral skin disease which primarily causes an infection in sheep and goats but can also be transmitted to humans.
66 hares were cruelly netted from the wild for the Borris-in-Ossory/Rushall/Rathdowney meeting. It was allowed to go ahead, thanks to a licence recklessly issued by then Culture and Heritage Minister, Josepha Madigan. She granted the licence despite the presence in Ireland of the deadly and highly contagious RHD2 virus which she herself acknowledged “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.
Regardless, she later lifted a suspension of hare netting and allowed the coursers to proceed and net thousands of hares for their bloodsport.
At a meeting between Minister Madigan and pro-coursing Fine Gael TDs in September, it was stated that “the presence of the RHD2 virus in Ireland could be catastrophic for the wild hare and rabbit population” and that at that point, “12 out of 13 wild rabbits and hare carcasses, from a range of counties across Ireland, that had been tested for RHD2 virus, have returned positive results."
It is not yet known how many more hares or rabbits have died as a result of the RHD2 virus.
Find out about more victims of coursing in the latest documents published on the NPWS website https://www.npws.ie/licences/hare-coursing
ACTION ALERT
With a RED C opinion poll confirming that a 77 per cent majority of Irish citizens want hare coursing banned (with just 9 per cent disagreeing with a ban), it is now time for politicians to consign this nasty bloodsport to history. Join us in contacting all TDs and demanding that they act to ensure that a ban is urgently introduced. Visit the Oireachtas website for contact details for TDs https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/33
Please contact political party leaders and urge them to back a ban on hare coursing, fox hunting and all bloodsports in Ireland.
Micheál Martin
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie
Phone: 021-432 0088 OR 01–618 3000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Leo Varadkar
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: 01-619 4020
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie; leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: http://www.twitter.com/@LeoVaradkar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar
Mary Lou McDonald TD
Leader, Sinn Fein
Tel: (01) 727 7102
Email: marylou.mcdonald@oireachtas.ie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryLouMcDonald
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MaryLouMcDonaldTD
Eamon Ryan
Leader, Green Party
Tel: 01 618 3894
Email: eamon.ryan@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EamonRyanGP/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EamonRyan
Please sign and share the petitions
Ireland - Ban cruel hare coursing
www.change.org/p/ireland-ban-cruel-hare-coursing
Irish Government: Stop Giving Millions of Euro to Cruel Greyhound Racing
https://www.change.org/p/irish-government-stop-giving-millions-of-euro-to-cruel-greyhound-racing