What a fantastic day of action it was for the animals, we just could not have done it without you.

As campaigners and supporters from ARAN and our colleagues at ICABS woke to the sounds of their alarm clock in preparation for the day ahead, Newstalk national radio was already running news of our lively demonstration to expose cruel hare coursing at the Clonmel finals, taking place that afternoon. The station has a huge listenership, prompting calls to ARAN from their listeners for more information on hare coursing and our campaigns against cruelty to animals.

Going out of your way and taking to the streets is what our supporters are all about when it comes to animals in need. From across the nation, our loyal supporters came from Cork, Limerick, Clare, Galway, Tipperary, Wexford, Waterford, Dublin, Kildare, Meath, and one ARAN supporter coming from as far afield as Scotland. A group of our other activists daubed themselves in red ‘blood’ to symbolise the cruelty associated with all blood sports. The activists held signs reading ‘Hands up if you support blood sports’ which the press jumped on along with a huge banner that led our demonstration along the road where the coursing finals were actually taking place.

In the week prior to our demonstration, a live call took place on Tipperary FM, in which we spoke about the cruelty of hare coursing and animal abuse in general.  Again, the call-in was a huge success, prompting local people to call us for more information and ways they can help. The Irish Times and Irish Examiner also ran fantastic articles about our demonstration in Clonmel, despite the day awash with news on Ireland’s upcoming election.

WATCH US IN ACTION FOR THE ANIMALS
For those who could not attend, please see national television news coverage, click here. To see some footage of our press photocall, click here, and footage of the demonstration when people were starting to arrive, click here. Please mark your diary for our big event in 2012.