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John O Dwyer is pictured holding a hare in the pen at the Hare Coursing Finals at Powerstown Park, Clonmel, Co Tipperary in 2010 James Horan/Photocall Ireland

Calls for an end to "inherently cruel" hare coursing

Animal campaigners say that details from the National Parks and Wildlife Service show that the practice is “unacceptable”.

ANIMAL WELFARE GROUPS are claiming that reports compiled by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) reveal evidence of terror and suffering inflicted on hares during coursing events.

The reports are prepared on a yearly basis and are the result of monitoring by wildlife rangers at coursing events around the country. The rangers  attend to ensure that the conditions of coursing licences are being adhered to.

The Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports (CACS) says that there are references in the reports to hares being struck and mauled, as well as being pinned and dying from their injuries.

The reports were obtained by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports (ICABS) via a Freedom of Information application. Aideen Yourell of the ICABS told TheJournal.ie that data is obtained each year in the aftermath of the coursing season in order to expose the practice and to make lists of “the kills”.

Yourell said that nothing contained in the reports illustrates illegal activity, but that the OCABS and other groups are anxious to highlight the “inherent cruelty” that goes along with hare coursing.

The terms of the coursing licence dictates that dogs involved must be muzzled and the hare must have a line of escape. However Yourell said that the conditions are “not acceptable” and that every single hare is terrorised:

Even if there are no injuries no hare should be chased by two dogs up a field.

The government’s draft Animal Welfare Bill exempts hare coursing from new laws forbidding cruelty to animals “unless the hare is hunted or coursed in a space from which it does not have a reasonable chance of escape”.

In March the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Simon Coveney said that the government had no plans to ban hare coursing, and that the “situation is kept under constant review to ensure that coursing is run in a well controlled and responsible manner in the interest of animal welfare for both the hares and greyhounds alike”.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture Shane McEntee said in February that coursing was a vital part of the greyhound industry in Ireland. The Irish Times reported that McEntee said there was no danger to the hare and that people should come and witness the events for themselves.

Dáil Technical Group TDs Maureen O’Sullivan and Clare Daly have said they intend to introduce a private members Bill calling for the abolition of hare coursing.

Yourell claims that politicians that support coursing are “terrified to lose a handful of votes”. She said that while she and her counterparts know they are called a “bunch of cranks”, that they feel they have succeeded in “giving coursing a bad name”.

Read more: Opposition TDs propose laws to ban hare coursing>

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161 Comments
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    Mute Rob
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    Nov 5th 2020, 1:38 AM

    All this does means is that in 30yrs we have to go through all this again. It’s time the air was cleared, no more secrets.

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    Mute Côte D’oherty
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    Nov 5th 2020, 12:17 AM

    The Catholic Church is one of the most despicable institutions that has ever been imposed on us. Shame on whoever facilitated they’re reign of terror

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    Mute Côte D’oherty
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    Nov 5th 2020, 12:18 AM

    @Côte D’oherty: their *

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    Mute Tony Harris
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    Nov 5th 2020, 12:45 AM

    @Côte D’oherty: “we” facilitated it. They weren’t the Stasi, they weren’t the Gestapo, we flocked to them in our millions.

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    Mute Côte D’oherty
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    Nov 5th 2020, 1:07 AM

    @Tony Harris: agreed

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    Mute Trevor Donoghue
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    Nov 5th 2020, 4:37 AM

    @Tony Harris: Back then they were not the stasi or the gestapo, they were worse , The people feared the Stasi and gestapo because they were all afraid of them, they knew exactly what monsters they were and they would take your lives. The Church did worse because they were doing unspeakable evil disguised as God’s good work and people were good catholics, and we did not facilitate it, we were trying to save our very souls, not simply our lives. And you did not ever go against the church back then if you even wanted a life, or a job, or even to be part of the community you lived it. And the Church still need a long, long way to go to pay for the evil they have done.

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    Mute Tony Doran
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    Nov 5th 2020, 7:45 AM

    @Trevor Donoghue: Well said. People need to wake up and realise how oppressive it was for the Irish people living under those conditions, fearing the church and having to get in line, be good little Catholics or else!

    56
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    Mute ÓDuibhír Abú
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    Nov 5th 2020, 8:02 AM

    @Tony Harris: From the; Cradle to the Grave, the Roman Church Brain washed people.

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    Mute ÓDuibhír Abú
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    Nov 5th 2020, 8:05 AM

    @Tony Harris: When I look back, and Remember Grown Men, Elected Representatives of Dáil Éireann, bending down on their; Knee Kissing the Hand Of the Bishops.

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    Mute Justin Gillespie
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    Nov 5th 2020, 9:13 AM

    @ÓDuibhír Abú: This is what happens when anyone gets unchecked power over someone else. What happened in church & state run institution’s was criminal & shameful & it need to be exposed but don’t think for one minute that abuse nó longer takes place.
    What goes on behind closed doors is equally horrific, the numbers of calls to Childline support this, & we need to beef up ways of allowing victims to reach out for help.

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    Mute ÓDuibhír Abú
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    Nov 5th 2020, 1:09 PM

    @Justin Gillespie: Difference is; an Organization claiming to be representatives of God on earth. Claiming to be protectors of the; Faith, but have destroyed it by their; Ungodly actions.

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    Mute paul mccoy
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    Nov 5th 2020, 12:55 AM

    Typical of this government. Bury it and it’s like it never happened so we don’t have to answer any nasty questions from the public.

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    Mute Bull McCabe
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    Nov 5th 2020, 12:17 AM

    Is there anything to be said to have another tribunal? That way it can be fully investigated and nobody will be prosecuted!

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    Mute Mary Nugent
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    Nov 5th 2020, 7:42 AM

    Shame of a Nation the land of sorrows.

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    Mute Gerry Ryan
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    Nov 5th 2020, 9:01 AM

    So Fine Gael have given the ok for comments

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    Mute Rathminder
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    Nov 5th 2020, 9:19 AM

    I have no connection to the homes but think the idea of a records centre on the site of the Magdalene Laundry is fitting. It could include a library of the books and documents written documenting the history which saw the Irish government’s pattern of discarding any responsibility for the unfortunate. It is fitting for the site, much as the work houses turned into museums. The survivors must have a say in this, however.

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    Mute Celtic Spirit
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    Nov 5th 2020, 9:18 AM

    Bye bye Catholic church. And not before time. An absolute dispicable, vile cult that were given control over our country after independence. From the British Empire to the Holy Roman Empire of the Vatican.

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    Mute Brendan Greene
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    Nov 5th 2020, 10:01 AM

    @Celtic Spirit: it is very naive to imagine that these abuses are in some way related to Catholicism specifically rather than human nature. We now know that similar things occurred all over the world in settings that were entirely secular. All societies like scapegoats to avoid acknowledging our complicity in what happened.

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    Mute Celtic Spirit
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    Nov 5th 2020, 1:04 PM

    @Brendan Greene: I wouldn’t agree with what you’ve said. The Catholic church as an institution were given free reign to do as they pleased without any retribution for their actions. They rules this country with an iron fist. People were conditioned plain and simple. The Irish people were too afraid to question the church in case they went to hell. That is the mark of a cult. Some of the victims then went on to abuse others making their victims secondary or proxy victims of the church.

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    Mute Rob Duggan
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    Nov 5th 2020, 9:16 AM

    People and the state failed we still do. We used to blame the brits, now we project blame to the church. Families shunned their daughters. Aethiest regimes are as brutal as those led by a theocracy(ccp/ussr etc) . We need to look at the ugly truth of our own human behavior and rule of law.

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