THE GLOVES ARE OFF – ARAN ANNOUNCES NEW 2010 HARE-COURSING CAMPAIGN
That’s right, the gloves are off indeed! As hare coursing enthusiasts arrived for the finals of their coursing fixtures – the Animal Rights Action Network (ARAN) – Ireland’s national animal rights group, announced in light of the recent proposed ban on stag hunting and fur farming that hare coursing is next on our agenda.
The lively protest which was co-organized by ARAN and other groups, including our colleagues from the Irish Council Against Bloodsports (ICABS). Throughout the protest, campaigners were flanked by giant banners that read ‘Ban Bloodsports in Ireland Now’ and ‘Ban Hare Coursing’, members of Animal Rights Action Network (ARAN) and campaigners from various groups today called for an end to coursing cruelty. Press coverage for the event was good, for ARAN’s part we conducted radio interviews on i102fm, Beatfm, Tipperary Fm and the popular Last Word on Today FM with Matt Cooper along with interviews with the Irish Times, Sports File and The Irish Independent. See some short footage from the event by clicking here.
What is wrong with hare coursing? Hare-coursing is inherently cruel from beginning to end. Hares are snatched from the wild, kept captive in coursing compounds and then forced to run for their lives. Although the greyhounds are muzzled, hares continue to be struck, tossed into the air and mauled into the ground, which can result in severe injury and death. Not a coursing season goes by without such incidents taking place, as confirmed by Department of Environment reports obtained under FOI. In just the first three weeks of the 2008 / 2009 season, Minister for the Environment John Gormley admitted that 22 hares had died. All of this horrendous cruelty takes place, compliments of a license granted to the Irish Coursing Club by Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, which allows for the snatching of approximately 7,500 hares from the wild in nets for use as live lures for the greyhounds. Last May Minister Gormley himself issued a report on the Status of EU protected habitats and species in Ireland, in which he rated the conservation status of the Irish hare as ‘poor’, with citing loss of habitat, increased urbanization, and hunting as the causes. Minister Gormley subsequently granted coursers an extension of their cruelty season into March. Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, recognizing that the hare population is under threat, Minister for Environment, Sammy Wilson, renewed the now five year hunting suspension in that jurisdiction, resulting in two northern coursing clubs travelling south to be hosted by coursing clubs here, putting even more pressure on our beleaguered hare population. In fact, evidence of a shortage of hares has emerged with one coursing club in Co. Offaly admitting last year (source: FOI)  that they found it difficult to capture hares for coursing, stating that more man hours were spent looking for hares, and yet the number caught were low.
“Hare coursing stands for cruelty in our book, says Stephan Wymore, Researcher for ARAN. The wheel is finally turning for those that get sick kicks from bloodsports, today ARAN is announcing that our gloves are off and that coursing is next on our agenda, let the game begin.”