The story of a leveret rescued from the ice and snow at Dublin airport has touched the hearts of thousands and footage of Emma, called after the storm, has gone viral. Emma was fortunate. She was found by the right people and fair play to the compassionate airport officials who intervened to rescue her. If she had been located elsewhere in Ireland a few weeks ago during the hare coursing season she'd have been treated differently. Thousands of hares were forced to run from pairs of hyped-up greyhounds at venues nationwide and female hares gave birth to leverets in captivity at some coursing compounds. To be saved from the worst storm in decades makes Emma one lucky leveret. Sadly, many other hares have not been so lucky over the past five months. They were terrorised, mauled, and tossed about in front of cheering fans who marked betting cards or swigged from hip flasks as the captured animals performed for them. It wasn't the weather that made life hell for those hares, though the fields could be muddy or water-logged, but misguided human beings who get a cheap thrill from watching them twist and dodge to avoid death or agonizing injury. A speedy recovery to Emma the Leveret, and eternal shame to the coursing clubs whose treatment of the gentle Irish Hare makes the Beast from the East, and the even the Wicked Witch of the West, look tame by comparison.