8 hares were hit by dogs, 2 were pinned to the ground and 1 was killed at a shameful coursing meeting in Waterford, newly released documents reveal.
The hares were among 51 netted from the wild, held in captivity for up to 74 days and forced to run for their lives at the 3-day Cappoquin coursing meet on 15, 16, 17 November 2024.
Documents published on the website of the National Parks and Wildlife Service – which disgracefully licenses the bloodsport on behalf of the Heritage Minister – show that:
On Day 1: 1 hare was caught and pinned to the ground by greyhounds. This hare "required treatment for injuries". The injuries were "confirmed by attending vet".
On Day 2: 5 hares were hit and 1 was pinned. One of these hares was “euthanised as a result of injuries” by the coursing club's vet.
On Day 3: 3 more hares were hit
A National Parks and Wildlife Service ranger who was there to monitor the persecution of a supposedly protected species reported that the hare who was pinned on Day 1 "was placed in a box by a [coursing club] steward".
This injured hare did not receive immediate attention from the vet. The ranger noted that the hare was "examined by the attending veterinary surgeon AT THE NEAREST INTERVAL".
"The hare received some painkiller medication and was set aside not to be coursed again for the remaining event," the ranger wrote.
The injuries suffered by this hare on the Friday (15 November) were recorded on the ranger's monitoring report. Two days later, the hare apparently had no injuries - "the hare was released on the Sunday, with the other hares, with no injuries present".
The hare pinned to the ground on Day 2 sustained injuries too. This suffering hare also had to wait until the nearest interval in the coursing meeting for attention. The ranger stated that the attending veterinary surgeon - identified as John Collins - "euthanised the hare after examination".
According to the documents, the coursing club's vet shamefully certified the 51 captured hares "FIT FOR COURSING" before they were terrorised by the dogs.
Out of the 50 hares who survived the ordeal of captivity, manhandling and coursing, 49 were released. The other hare "returned down the field and escaped at the boxing unit". National Parks and Wildlife Service conservation ranger Éinne Ó Cathasaigh saw the hare "running into a nearby field until out of sight".
Coursing compromises the welfare of hares and those used and abused remain at risk of subsequently dying from stress-related capture myopathy in the days and weeks after they are released.
A survival study commissioned by the National Parks and Wildlife Service involved snatching 40 hares from the wild in nets, attaching GPS radio collars around their necks and tracking their movements. 20 of the captured hares were forced to run for their lives at the national coursing cruelty festival in Clonmel, while the other 20, for comparison purposes, were spared the ordeal. The results of the study are alarming and strengthen the case for the Precautionary Principle to be applied and coursing licences refused. Out of the 20 coursed hares used, just 1 was confirmed to be still alive at the end of the study.
Shame on the Irish Government for allowing this bloodsport to continue, despite majority support among the public for a ban. A 2019 RED C poll found that 77% want coursing banned, with just 9% disagreeing with a ban. A majority in both rural and urban areas are in favour of a ban.
Due to the cruelty involved, coursing is already illegal in all our neighbouring jurisdictions (Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales).
SEE ALSO
Just 1 coursed hare found alive in survival study
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2023/05/25/just-1-coursed-hare-found-alive-in-survival-study/
Cappoquin coursing meeting documents
https://www.npws.ie/sites/default/files/files/coursing-cappoquin-and-waterford-2024-2025.pdf
ACTION ALERT
HELP THE HARES: Tell Heritage Minister James Browne and Minister of State for Nature Christopher O'Sullivan to give full protection to the Irish Hare and stop licensing cruel coursing.
Minister James Browne (Fianna Fail, Wexford)
Tel: (01) 618 3094
Email: james.browne@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/james.browne.enniscorthy
Twitter: https://x.com/jamesbrownetd
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesbrownetd/?hl=en
Christopher O'Sullivan TD (Fianna Fail, Cork South West)
Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity
Tel: (01) 618 3095 or 023 88 11011
Email: christopher.osullivan@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christopher.osullivan.716
Twitter: https://twitter.com/COSullivanTD
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christopher_o_sullivan_td
Urge Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon to remove exemptions for hare coursing and fox hunting from the Animal Health and Welfare Act.
Martin Heydon TD
Minister for Agriculture
Tel: 01-618 3017
Email: minister@agriculture.gov.ie; martin.heydon@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/martinheydonfg
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/martinheydonfg
It is time for politicians to consign coursing and hunting 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 https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/34
Contact the leaders of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael Sinn Fein and the Labour Party to tell them that you want hare coursing and all bloodsports banned.
Micheál Martin TD
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; info@fiannafail.ie
Tel: 01 619 4000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Simon Harris TD
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: 01 281 3727
Email: simon.harris@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
X: http://www.twitter.com/SimonHarrisTD
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DeputySimonHarris
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
Ivana Bacik TD
Leader, The Labour Party
Tel: (01) 6183136
Email: ivana.bacik@oireachtas.ie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ivanabacik
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bacikivana/
Witness the cruelty of hare coursing in Ireland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntgYjH06czs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVIKc2CS4ko
Please support our campaign with a donation
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