A hare who appeared to be suffering a leg injury was released back to the wild after a coursing meeting in County Kildare, it has emerged.
Documents recently published on the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) website reveal that at the Old Kilcullen coursing meeting in December, a wildlife ranger noted that on Day 1, before the start of coursing, one of the 60 hares captured for the cruelty event had “a leg that was not sitting right”. In his report he added that this hare had “an apparent leg injury”.
According to the report, the coursers “stated the vet had assessed this hare and it would not be coursed”.
The vet was said to have “assessed” the hare but it does not appear that the animal was examined for injuries. The veterinary report shows that on Day 1, the only hare examined for injuries was a hare who was caught and pinned to the ground by greyhounds.
The National Parks ranger was told that the hare with the apparent leg injury was released back to the wild that evening. There was no mention of any treatment given to this hare.
On Day 3, the ranger saw another 5 hares being hit by dogs. The veterinary report shows that none of these were examined for injuries.
The following day, when the hares were to be released back to the wild, “2 dead hares were found in the enclosure prior to release”. These two hares were collected by the ranger and “sent for post mortem and RHD2 testing.”
While these two dead hares were taken away for testing for the highly contagious and deadly RHD2 virus, there seems to have been no testing of the remaining 56 hares which were in close contact in the same enclosure. They were released back into the countryside later that day.
The coursers claimed that another hare escaped after the coursing meet, with the ranger commenting that the hare “was not seen escaping by club members or the NPWS or found in the park after a search before releases took place.”
Cruel coursing at Old Kilcullen was allowed to go ahead, thanks to a licence recklessly issued by then Culture and Heritage Minister, Josepha Madigan. She granted the licence despite the presence in Ireland of the RHD2 virus which she herself acknowledged “has the potential to wipe out the hare population completely”. Her National Parks and Wildlife Service department warned that RHD2 could prove “catastrophic” for the Irish Hare which is unique to Ireland.
Regardless, she later lifted a suspension of hare netting and allowed the coursers to proceed and net thousands of hares for their bloodsport.
At a meeting between Minister Madigan and pro-coursing Fine Gael TDs in September, it was stated that “the presence of the RHD2 virus in Ireland could be catastrophic for the wild hare and rabbit population” and that at that point, “12 out of 13 wild rabbits and hare carcasses, from a range of counties across Ireland, that had been tested for RHD2 virus, have returned positive results."
It is not known how many more hares or rabbits have died as a result of the RHD2 virus.
Find out about more victims of coursing in the latest documents published on the NPWS website https://www.npws.ie/licences/hare-coursing
URGENT ACTION ALERT
Contact Heritage Minister Malcolm Noonan TD (Green Party) and urge him to refuse a 2020-21 hare coursing licence.
Malcolm Noonan TD
Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform
Tel: (01) 6183148
Email: malcolm.noonan@oireachtas.ie; catherine.martin@oireachtas.ie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/noonan_malcolm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/votemalcolmnoonan1/
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
Urge Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tanaiste Leo Varadkar to respect the wishes of the majority and ban hare coursing and all bloodsports.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie
Phone: 021-432 0088
Leinster House: 01–618 3000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Tanaiste Leo Varadkar
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: 01-619 4020
Email: leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: http://www.twitter.com/@LeoVaradkar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar
Witness the cruelty of hare coursing in Ireland
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRkXOvbUPNNjMc6LShwiiXBfnDAPbykf
Urge Sinn Fein leader, Mary Lou McDonald TD, to update her party’s animal welfare policies to include support for a ban on hare coursing.
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
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
Sinn Fein: Support a ban on cruel hare coursing
https://www.change.org/p/sinn-fein-support-a-ban-on-cruel-hare-coursing
SEE ALSO:
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.
https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/posts/3058655624249975
There are renewed calls for a ban on cruel hare coursing after newly released documents show that a hare suffered a SPINAL INJURY and died at a coursing meeting in County Kerry.
https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/posts/3049305861851618
There are renewed calls for a ban on cruel hare coursing after newly released documents show that a hare suffered a BROKEN BACK during a coursing meeting in County Laois
https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/posts/3047131692069035