Please join calls on Heritage Minister James Browne to WITHDRAW the 2025-2026 hare coursing licences he has shamefully issued. 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 Browne - who stated during Biodiversity Week that “respecting our wildlife means protecting them” - and Nature Minister Christopher O’Sullivan disregarded appeals to them to refuse the licences and spare hares the cruelty of coursing.

The licences give the go-ahead to over 80 coursing clubs to capture hares between 8th August 2025 and 28th February 2026, hold them in captivity for weeks/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 Ministers Browne and O’Sullivan. “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 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 withdrawal 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 WITHDRAW the 2025-26 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 WITHDRAW the licences you granted for another season of cruel hare coursing.

The licences 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 withdraw the licences as a step towards a long overdue ban on coursing.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

[Name/Address]

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 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

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

Ireland – Ban cruel hare coursing
http://www.change.org/p/ireland-ban-cruel-hare-coursing

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
http://revolut.me/icabs