It's time to relegate hare coursing to its rightful place in the sorry pages of our past - read John Fitzgerald’s letter to the editor in this week’s Dublin People and please scroll down for action alert...
A heritage asset to be treasured
Dublin People, 8 October 2025
Dear Editor,
The Irish Hare's presence on this island may date back to around 60,000 years, well before the last Ice Age. Conservationists point to its unique genetic characteristics not shared by any hare species outside Ireland.
Though not an endangered species yet, it has been in decline for the past half century, due to habitat loss caused by multiple factors, but especially urbanisation and the downside of modern agriculture that strip away swathes of the verdant countryside that it calls home.
How sad, and utterly scandalous, it is then that successive governments allow people to set dogs on thousands of these "protected" mammals each year...for fun.
The new coursing season kicks off in October. At venues nationwide over the next five months, hares snatched from their already threatened habitats will have to run for their lives. Coursing officials will release hares from little boxes to run from one end of a wire-enclosed field or park to another, with greyhounds in pursuit.
Apart from injuries that may result from hares being forcibly struck or mauled, or tossed skyward by the dogs, the animals also suffer from high stress levels arising from a condition called Capture Myopathy that may cause death hours or days after the coursing event. It is unnatural to confine a wild animal like a hare for weeks at a time in captivity.
Coursing serves no useful purpose whatsoever. It's not a form of pest control or part of any scientific enterprise. Its sole purpose is to provide a cheap thrill and a chance to bet on the dogs.
Whatever excuse we might make for people in the time of Henry VIII, or further back in the reign of emperor Nero, who was also a coursing fan, there is no place for it in a country whose government claims (outrageously) to have the most progressive animal welfare laws in Europe.
Ireland faces many challenges - social, economic and climate-related - but we can surely spare a little time and energy to tackle this blot on the Irish landscape.
It's time to relegate hare coursing to its rightful place on old wall plaques and in the sorry pages of our past.
Sincerely,
John Fitzgerald
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