I appeal to the Minister to reject the hare netting licence application. I urge her to stand up for our iconic and long-suffering Irish Hare, a sub-species of the Mountain Hare unique to Ireland that has survived the Ice Age of 10,000 years ago AND aggressive modern agriculture… only to be persecuted by a small but politically well-connected minority for “sport” - Read John Fitzgerald's Letter to the Editor in the Limerick Post...

Call on Minister to refuse coursing licence
Limerick Post, August 3rd, 2019

Sir,

The Minister for Arts, Culture & Heritage, Josepha Madigan, is currently considering a licence application from coursing clubs that, if granted, will permit netting of hares nationwide for another season of live hare coursing.

Aside from the well-documented cruelty of the practice, as evidenced by copious video footage of hares being mauled, forcibly struck, or otherwise injured at fixtures, there is another compelling reason this year why the licence should not be issued: The revelations of last month’s RTE Investigates programme on the greyhound industry, which included footage of illegal coursing on Whiddy Island in Bantry Bay.

The coursers involved did not have the required permission, or licence, to hold fixtures on the island, and, in addition to terrorising hares with greyhounds, also had terriers that were used to flush the animals into the open so they could be more easily seen and/or caught by the dogs.

But the most significant feature of the undercover RTE filming was the fact that senior high-profile figures from Ireland’s coursing fraternity were among those taking part in the unlicensed and unregulated coursing activity.

The Minister has the power to refuse the hare-netting license and I believe she has the best of reasons for doing so: How can we possibly trust coursing clubs to operate within the law when some of the best-known figures in the greyhound industry have been caught red-handed doing what coursing clubs so frequently and vociferously condemn: holding unauthorised fixtures?

I appeal to the Minister to reject the hare netting licence application. I urge her to stand up for our iconic and long-suffering Irish Hare, a sub-species of the Mountain Hare unique to Ireland that has survived the Ice Age of 10,000 years ago AND aggressive modern agriculture...only to be persecuted by a small but politically well-connected minority for “sport.”

John Fitzgerald
Callan, Kilkenny

ACTION ALERT

Contact the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan, and urge her not to issue a licence for another season of cruel hare coursing.

Email "Refuse a 2019-2020 licence for cruel hare coursing" to josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1 631 3800
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://facebook.com/JosephaMadiganFG
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