"A few days ago, the Department of Arts, Heritage, and the Gaeltacht issued a license permitting the capture of hares for another coursing season...despite the continuing decline of the Irish Hare across the island" - Read John Fitzgerald's Letter to the Editor in today's Irish Independent...

Scourge of Hare Coursing
Irish Independent, 17 August 2018

The writer Brendan Behan attended a hare coursing event back in the 1950s. In Confessions of an Irish Rebel he admitted that “the screams of the hares gave me the excuse to stop in the tent drinking whiskey for to drown the noise.”

Sadly, in 2018 we still have this blot on the Irish countryside. A few days ago, the Department of Arts, Heritage, and the Gaeltacht issued a license permitting the capture of hares for another coursing season...despite the continuing decline of the Irish Hare across the island.

Northern Ireland banned hare coursing in 2011 on both animal welfare and conservationist grounds. Hare density; and the levels of distress suffered by coursed hares are almost the same here in the Republic as they were up North. Yet successive Irish governments allow hare coursing to continue.

Because the greyhounds are muzzled nowadays, you don’t hear the hares scream as loudly as in Behan’s day. They no longer become ropes in those live tug of war sessions that coursing clubs finally recognized as bad PR for their “sport”. But they are injured, and traumatised.

With the greatest respect to the man who gave us The Quare Fellow and The Hostage, I don’t think it's right to respond to hare coursing by shutting our eyes or ears to it.

John Fitzgerald,
Callan, Co. Kilkenny

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ICABS ACTION ALERT

With warnings from wildlife experts that the species is in trouble, it is now more clear than ever that the Irish Hare must be given full protection. Urgently contact Minister Josepha Madigan and the National Parks and Wildlife Service and demand that they revoke the 2018-19 hare coursing licence.

Minister Josepha Madigan
Minister for Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht
Phone: +353 (0)1 631 3800
Email: josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie, ministers.office@ahg.gov.ie, wildlifelicence@ahg.gov.ie, john.fitzgerald@ahg.gov.ie, Gerry.Leckey@ahg.gov.ie, nature.conservation@ahg.gov.ie
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://facebook.com/JosephaMadiganFG
Tweet to: @josephamadigan

John Fitzgerald
Director, National Parks and Wildlife Service
Phone: +353 (0)1 888 3242
Email: john.fitzgerald@ahg.gov.ie

VIDEOS

See the cruelty of hare coursing on our Youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/icabs

SAMPLE LETTER
(If you have time, please compose your own personal letter. Otherwise, feel free to send the short sample letter below)

Dear Minister,
I am one of the majority who want hare coursing outlawed. I am writing to demand that you revoke the 2018-19 hare netting licence that has shamefully been issued.

In coursing, hares suffer and die at all stages - during the capture, during the time they are kept in captivity and during the coursing meetings where they run for their lives in front of greyhounds. Among the injuries recorded are broken legs, damaged toes and dislocated hips.

I ask you to please act on the wishes of the majority, show compassion and end this cruelty.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

[Name/Location]

The Irish Hare is a protected species but an exemption for coursing in the Animal Health and Welfare Act means coursers are not liable for prosecution for their cruelty. Join us in our call to the government to remove the exemption and provide full and permanent protection to this cherished species.

Contact An Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar and ask him to ban hare coursing and give permanent protection to hares.

An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar
Department of the Taoiseach,
Government Buildings,
Upper Merrion St, Dublin 2
Telephone: +353 (0)1-6194020
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie, leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie
Tweet to: @campaignforLeo
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/campaignforleo/

Express your support for a ban on coursing. Sign and share the petition

Ban Blood Sports in Ireland
https://www.change.org/petitions/ban-blood-sports-in-ireland