Please join us in urging Heritage Minister James Browne and Minister of State for Nature Christopher O’Sullivan to REFUSE 2025-26 licences for cruel hare coursing.
In a 28-page submission to the Ministers, 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 at the end of 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”.
We told the Ministers that a refusal of the licences would be widely welcomed. A RED C opinion poll found that a 77% majority want the government to ban hare coursing (with just 9% disagreeing with a ban). The cruel activity is already banned in all our neighbouring jurisdictions.
Support for an end to coursing was very evident in the public’s response to the Citizens Assembly on Biodiversity Loss, with many of those who made submissions calling for a ban.
In the midst of the government-declared Climate and Biodiversity emergency, there are growing pressures on the Irish Hare. It is imperative that this species is given every protection to help safeguard its future on this island. This must include a refusal of 2025-26 coursing licences and a removal of the species from the Open Season Order.
Please join us in urgently contacting Ministers Browne and O’Sullivan and demanding a refusal of coursing licences. The Irish Hare should not have to suffer another season of this shameful abuse.
URGENT 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 REFUSE 2025-26 hare coursing licences.
Minister James Browne (Fianna Fail, Wexford)
Tel: (01) 618 3094
Email: minister@housing.gov.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/james.browne.enniscorthy
Twitter: https://x.com/jamesbrownetd
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesbrownetd/
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: mos@housing.gov.ie; 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
SAMPLE LETTER
(If you have time, please compose your own personal letter. Otherwise, feel free to send the sample letter below)
Dear Ministers Browne and O’Sullivan,
I am writing to ask you to please REFUSE licences for another season of cruel hare coursing.
The licences would allow coursers to net thousands of hares from the wild, transport them in boxes to coursing compounds, manhandle them, hold them in captivity for weeks/months and eventually force them to run for their lives in front of greyhounds.
All the hares suffer fear and stress and, despite the muzzling of the dogs, hares are injured and killed every coursing season when they are caught and mauled. Among the injuries documented are broken back, spinal injury, broken legs, damaged toes and dislocated hips.
Hares suffer at all stages – during capture, while held captive 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 be first to force the hare to change direction. Coursing compromises the welfare of hares and those who survive the ordeal remain at risk of dying from stress-related capture myopathy in the days and weeks after they are released back to the wild.
There is also the very worrying issue of disease spread among hares when they are forced together in unnatural high density. 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”. In relation to the highly contagious RHD2 virus, the NPWS has stated that “if one infected animal is found in netting for a coursing meeting, then the entire capture would need to be put down.”
With the suffering, stress, injury and death caused to hares at coursing meetings, there should be no hesitation in finally ending this shameful activity by refusing 2025-26 licences. This would be widely welcomed by the 77% majority of Irish citizens who want coursing banned (just 9% disagree with a ban. Source: RED C poll).
Ireland is in the middle of a biodiversity crisis and it’s time for the iconic Irish Hare to be given full protection and allowed to live free from persecution. Please refuse the licences as a step towards a long overdue ban on coursing.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
[Name/Address]
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 and Sinn Fein and 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
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
https://www.paypal.me/banbloodsports