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Heritage Minister Darragh O’Brien has shamefully issued 2024-2025 hare coursing licences. The licences cover a 204-day period and allow cruel coursers to net thousands of hares from the wild and use them as live bait for greyhounds to chase.
Minister O’Brien (Fianna Fail, Dublin Fingal) disregarded appeals to him to refuse the licences and spare hares the cruelty of coursing.
The licences will give the go-ahead to over 80 coursing clubs to capture hares between 9th August 2024 and 28th February 2025, hold them in captivity for weeks or months and eventually force them to run for their lives in front of dogs.
See copies of the licences at https://www.npws.ie/licencesandconsents/hare-coursing
“All hares suffer fear and stress and every coursing season, hare injuries and deaths occur,” the Irish Council Against Blood Sports stated in an appeal to Minister O’Brien. “Among the injuries documented are broken back, spinal injury, broken legs, damaged toes and dislocated hips.”
Hares suffer at all stages of coursing – during capture, while held captive in compounds and at the coursing meetings where they can be seen desperately running as a merciless mob cheer the greyhounds on and gamble on which dog will force the hare to change direction first.
In a 28-page submission to Minister O’Brien, we
• Highlighted uncertainty over the number of hares in the country and the dramatic 42% fall in hare captures in the past decade (a worrying indication that hares are becoming more scarce).
• Questioned the Irish Hare’s “favourable” status presented by the Department of Heritage.
• Noted that just 1 coursed hare was found alive in a survival study.
• Warned that the threat of the deadly, highly infectious RHD2 virus remains.
• Pointed to hare extinction in the capital’s top “nature reserve”.
Our appeal was also directed at Green Party Minister of State for Nature Malcolm Noonan who has in the past condemned coursing, saying the appalling treatment of hares “highlights a shocking disregard for the welfare of the animals”. In 2020, he stated: “We all want to see hare coursing ended – it’s a cruel practice.”
Coursing is set to continue despite fears relating to the spread of disease, including RHD2, the highly contagious virus that can spread easily between hares and which, Minister O’Brien’s predecessor warned, could wipe out the Irish Hare species. Hares affected by the virus suffer the most horrendous death, with swollen eyelids, partial paralysis and bleeding from the eyes and mouth.
“The National Parks and Wildlife Service division of your department has made it clear that ‘the catching of hares in nets, 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’,” we reminded Ministers O’Brien and Noonan. “The NPWS went on to state that ‘if one infected animal is found in netting for a coursing meeting then the entire capture would need to be put down.’”
In issuing the latest licences, Minister O’Brien has disregarded the majority view in Ireland that coursing should be banned. A RED C opinion poll confirmed that 77% are in favour of a ban while just 9% disagree with a ban.
ACTION ALERT
At the next general election and local elections, vote against politicians who support animal cruelty. Find out the views of politicians at https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2020/01/08/politicians-and-animal-cruelty-issues/
HELP THE HARES: Contact Heritage Minister Darragh O’Brien and Minister of State for Nature Malcolm Noonan and urge them to show compassion, respect the wishes of the majority and revoke the coursing licences.
Email “Revoke the 2024-25 licences for cruel hare coursing” to minister@housing.gov.ie; mos@housing.gov.ie
Minister Darragh O’Brien (Fianna Fail, Dublin Fingal)
Minister for Heritage
Tel: (01) 618 3802 OR (086) 251 9893
Email: darragh.obrien@oireachtas.ie; minister@housing.gov.ie; natureconservation@housing.gov.ie; WildlifeLicence@housing.gov.ie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DarraghOBrienTD
X: http://twitter.com/DarraghOBrienTD
Malcolm Noonan TD (Green Party, Carlow Kilkenny)
Minister of State for Nature
Tel: (01) 618 3148 OR (01) 618 3156
Email: mos@housing.gov.ie; malcolm.noonan@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MinisterMalcolmNoonan/X: https://twitter.com/noonan_malcolm
With a RED C opinion poll confirming that a 77 per cent majority of citizens want hare coursing banned (with just 9% disagreeing with a ban), it is now time for politicians to consign this nasty bloodsport to history. Join us in contacting all TDs and urging them to 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
Contact the leaders of Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, the Green Party, Sinn Fein and Labour to demand a ban on hare hunting, hare coursing, fox hunting, mink hunting and all bloodsports.
Simon Harris TD
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: +353 (0)1 618 3805 or +353 (0)1 889 2442
Email: simon.harris@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
X: http://www.twitter.com/SimonHarrisTD
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DeputySimonHarris
Micheál Martin
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; info@fiannafail.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1–618 4350 or +353 (0)21-432 0088
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
X: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Eamon Ryan
Leader, Green Party
Tel: 01 618 3894
Email: eamon.ryan@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EamonRyanGP/
X: https://twitter.com/EamonRyan
Mary Lou McDonald TD
Leader, Sinn Fein
Tel: (01) 727 7102
Email: marylou.mcdonald@oireachtas.ie
X: https://twitter.com/MaryLouMcDonald
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MaryLouMcDonaldTD
Ivana Bacik TD
Leader, The Labour Party
Tel: (01) 6183136
Email: ivana.bacik@oireachtas.ie
X: https://twitter.com/ivanabacik
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bacikivana/
Please sign and share the petitions
Sinn Fein: Support a ban on cruel hare coursing
https://www.change.org/p/sinn-fein-support-a-ban-on-cruel-hare-coursing
Please support our campaign with a donation
https://www.paypal.me/banbloodsports
Find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
https://twitter.com/banbloodsports
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Witness the cruelty of hare coursing in Ireland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRUi_z_29tI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVIKc2CS4ko