A coursing club vet has outrageously described a dead hare as being “IN PERFECT CONDITION”
The unfortunate female hare - one of 41 cruelly captured for the Borrisoleigh coursing meeting - died confined in a box after the coursing had concluded.
Documents recently published on the NPWS website reveal that at the County Tipperary cruelty event, held on 26th and 27th December 2019, one hare died from so-called “natural causes”. The documents also show that a hare was pinned to the ground by greyhounds and examined for injuries by a vet. It is not clear if this hare is the one who died.
In a report, the coursing club’s vet stated: “I carried out a post mortem on the female hare on 28 December 2019. The hare was in perfect condition and the post mortem revealed no obvious cause of death”.
A National Parks and Wildlife Service ranger who monitored the event said that the hare “died between being boxed for release and being released.”
The DEAD hare “appeared healthy and in good condition, with no obvious sign of injury,” she added.
The claim that the hare died of “natural causes” ignores the fact that the whole coursing ordeal compromises the welfare of hares. The actual cause of death may have been linked to capture myopathy - a stress-related condition which can claim the lives of hares during coursing and in the days/weeks/months after they are released back to the wild.
There is absolutely nothing “natural” about hares being snatched from the wild in nets, trapped in a coursing enclosure, manhandled and used as live lures for dogs to chase.
Every coursing season, hare injuries and deaths are recorded. Thousands of hares are captured from the wild for the bloodsport. All suffer the fear and stress of running for their lives from pairs of greyhounds as a merciless mob gamble on which dog will force the hares to change direction first..
ACTION ALERT
With a RED C opinion poll confirming that a 77 per cent majority of Irish citizens want hare coursing banned (with just 9 per cent disagreeing with a ban), it is now time for politicians to consign this nasty bloodsport to history. Join us in contacting all TDs and demanding that they act to ensure that a ban is urgently introduced. Visit the Oireachtas website for contact details for TDs https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/33
Please contact political party leaders and urge them to back a ban on hare coursing, fox hunting and all bloodsports in Ireland.
Micheál Martin
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie
Phone: 021-432 0088 OR 01–618 3000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Leo Varadkar
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: 01-619 4020
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie; leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: http://www.twitter.com/@LeoVaradkar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar
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
Eamon Ryan
Leader, Green Party
Tel: 01 618 3894
Email: eamon.ryan@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EamonRyanGP/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EamonRyan
Sign and share the petitions
Ban Blood Sports in Ireland Now
https://www.change.org/petitions/ban-blood-sports-in-ireland
Irish Government: Stop Giving Millions of Euro to Cruel Greyhound Racing
https://www.change.org/p/irish-government-stop-giving-millions-of-euro-to-cruel-greyhound-racing