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SINN FÉIN REPRESENTATIVES in North Kerry have been accused of promoting animal cruelty after wishing a hare coursing group “the best of luck”.
The ad had been taken out in a programme for an event which features the Listowel coursing club.
The ad is signed from the Sinn Féin team in North Kerry: TD Martin Ferris and councillors Robert Beasley and Dianne Nolan.
The ad’s content has been slammed by both the Irish Council Against Blood Sports (ICABS) and the Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports (CACS).
A statement from CACS said it was “disgraceful that in 2015 any public representative would convey a good luck message to those involved in terrorising, injuring and killing Irish wildlife”.
The ICABS said that the ad was “appalling”.
“It quite appalling that in 2015 any public representative would convey a good luck message to those involved in the terrorising of this most timid and vulnerable wild animal for such a sick “sport”.”
Ferris told TheJournal.ie that the ad was consistent with the party’s stance on coursing.
“Coursing is a big part of what rural Ireland is about. It’s well regulated.
“You ask yourself, is horse-racing cruel? At one time, coursing was very cruel. Now, every effort is made to ensure the hare gets away.
“I take out ads all the time for societies in the local area.”
Beasley said he could not comment on the ad and Nolan did not return a request for comment.
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In fairness it wouldn’t be the cruellest thing SF have ever been involved in.
While running for election will SF turn to the left or turn to the right?
Good Question. Evidence from budgets, ard fheis, voting record in dail, europe & councils shows centre-left/left wing values. Whether that holds up at election time remains to be seen. It looks as if this question only applies given they have a coalition option which means Fine Gael & Labour fail to reach 79 seats. If this is the case then the options fall to the biggest party ie FG who will likely choose Fianna Fail. Sinn Fein / Fianna Fail is possible but I think Sinn Fein would do alot better as main opposition so they can continue to grow, I would prefer to see a Sinn Fein without Gerry Adams before I see a Sinn Fein in Government.
Best outcomes for the left are this: a SF/AAA-PBP/Soc Dems/IND government or a FG/FF led government with left as main opposition for the first time ever. Not to mention they end civil war politics & change the Irish political landscape forever
Outcome 1? A total pipe dream. Outcome 2? Will have no impact on the Left at all. The Left’s problem is not FF/FG. The Left’s problem is that they cannot agree on the time of day. SF will not be growing any more than they have. Well and truly found out. The Left in Ireland won’t see government in my lifetime.
Be careful of what you wish for Alan.
Not going to happen. 90 odd left wing TDs all getting along in government?
Sorry, that’s dreamland.
There is only so much money that can be sucked out of the people’s pockets by Fine Gael and Labour. Fine Gael will not be governing on their own so what other party are prepared to bleed to the people dry Alan?
SF running with the populist Hare as usual!
Martin Ferris was convicted of terrorist offences.
Someone who doesn’t value human life is not going to value the lives of animals.
Tap/dermo/psob,a ban on blood sports in the 6 counties especially fox hunting would mean even less visits from the Windsor’s of the house of the Saxe-Coborg,a family you deem to be royal.
How little you know me Juan. because I oppose murder as a political device I’m a supporter of the royal family? You are truly an idiot beneath contempt.
shinners supporting cruelty yet again
Sinn Fein supporting Coursing in Ireland
A blood sport that was Introduced by the British army in Ireland !! Sinn Fein supporting the British army and there love of animal cruelty … Some jokes just write themselves !!
Fill in Later you are incorrect .Hunting with hounds has taken place since men first set foot on the Island.Nothing to do with the British its not a recent import
Sure, Ferris believes murder can be justified under certain circumstances. He has a lot more than hare blood on his hands.
I don’t think the people who vote for Ferris will be put off by the death of hares. He has supported much worse.
Oh, the irony of SF supporting hare coursing. There’s nothing Irish about hare coursing. Irish hares were revered by the Celts. Coursing was introduced to Ireland by British army officers stationed at the Curragh in 1813.
There is nothing Irish about the Celts. The Milesians were here long before the Celts.
I always support my favourite hare…. Dessie O’Hare.
Chortle.
The Celts may not even have existed according to many historians.
Dermot, even if they did not exist there was a tribe that looked fierce like them.
What did they look like sap?
Tap! (Sorry)
Thought O’Hare he was a demented fox of some sort??
Martin Ferris said that hare coursing is a “big part of what rural Ireland is about”. That’s an insult to rural dwellers, the majority of whom abhor hare coursing. And he admits that hare coursing used to be very cruel. Well, it still is, and despite muzzles on the greyhounds, hares are being battered and mauled by the dogs. Imagine a 60 to 80lb dog hitting a fragile 6lb hare at speed. Hares are still being injured and killed at coursing meetings, according to reports issued by the National Parks & Wildlife Service, under FOI. And even if the hares get away, they are all terrorised and traumatised, which in itself is cruel. If hare coursing is not cruel, why then does it have to be specially exempted from prosecution in the Animal Health & Welfare Bill, along with foxhunting? Try going to a coursing meeting and taking photographs or video footage. You’ll be turfed out on your ear as has happened to me. In spite of this, there’s video footage aplenty showing hares getting battered and mauled at http://www.banbloodsports.com
Hare coursing is cruel from beginning to end. Here’s footage of hares in captivity at one venue…
https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/videos/861267607322132/
It certainly is!!!
Irish version of bull fighting and just as cruel
Its like being criticized by PETA. More of a badge of honor than anything else.
Rural ireland would be poorer without these pursuits and would be more poorer if these animal rights extremists got their way.
Rural Ireland is largely opposed to hare coursing, dog fighting, badger baiting etc, and the majority who oppose such animal cruelty practices are ordinary decent folk, not “extremists”…
Yea to be fair Sinn Fein got this one wrong, or at least the Kerry part of SF did.
Jamming will be along soon to attack the headline and the author. He won’t mention the actual issue. #deflection
Don’t be slagging the Kerry men.
Jammin only works Monday to Friday, he’s probably tax payer funded advisor or parliamentary secretary or something. Or maybe he’s still in New York.
Why is this a story?
Given they can’t even admit that The Disappeared were murdered and make zero effort to put those families out of their misery, why would they give a toss about cruelty towards animals.
I’d be far more concerned about the people Ferris gives lifts to.
Alan I’d be more concerned who the guards give a lift to..
Anybody who supports terrorising and or killing poor defenceless creatures is not fit to be called human.
Every human who eats meat then.
Here are the views of TD’s on the issue. A lot support the activity, I know my local FG is heavily involved anyway. http://www.banbloodsports.com/views.htm#constituency
Yes I know this also!
To Tom Kennedy and Keith Hore – regarding Sinn Fein being the only party criticised for their ad, this is because we came across this particular page of the programme online. If you have a pages with ads from other political parties, we’d be very interested to see them. If Fine Gael, FF, Labour or any other party have an ad in wishing the Listowel hare coursers well, we’d be similarly critical of them. The fact that hare coursing has not been banned in this country is because our legislators from all parties have turned a blind eye to the cruelty for decades. Shame, shame and double shame on the lot of them!!!
Dermos correct. Jamming only posts around these parts monday-friday.
Ah there you are! I knew I’d draw you out.
Will ICABS be posting the names and/or businesses of all the other advertisers as well? I’m sure they will be delighted to have a bit of free advertising for all to see.
Not Good i must say
It is a legal sport so why not support it.
Just because something is legal doesn’t make right
Letel me think because it’s disguisting
It is sickenly barbaric and the hares die after from fright and some die from being ripped apart but that is suppose to never happen and yet it does…
To demonstrate that there is no need or justification for using live hares in coursing, here’s drag coursing, as practised in continental Europe…where hares are not forced to run from dogs for “sport”…
Disgusting ‘sport’ ,,, should’ve been outlawed long ago..
Anyone here ever actually tasted Hare ??
I have eatenmany hares in the past, and have enjoyed hare soup; it is delicious. Lost count of the mumber of rabbits I have eaten. Hare meat is brown but that’s no problem; but I prefer rabbit stew. Obviously, the hare and the rabbits were dead before being cooked! So, relax, all you pale, anaemic bunny-huggers and hare-carers! I would not consider coursing much of a sport – but I do not have any problem with those who do.
Ah sure, as long as they don’t ‘disappear’ the hares afterwards.
Interesting article. I wonder what certain groups/individuals have against SF and Martin Ferris! Not the only political party represented on card. Political agendas perhaps.
Let’s take a wild guess why people might have issues with SF Something to do with its past and Martin Ferris importing a few tons of arms and explosives You must be new to Ireland
Every time SF are criticised, it’s because there’s an election looming and someone has a political agenda! It’s never because they ever do anything wrong.
A labour to is married to a murderer
Well if 46 years is new… then so be it!
I was at the meeting and fine geal have an add in it as well. Why don’t you have a headline about that.
Because this is a pro-FG publication
Anyone involved in hare coursing can boil their heads with their cabbage… What an evil so called sport, I would have no doubt of ringing the gardai if I saw it taking place near me…
Fitz ,you have a couple of minutes of a video if you did it properly and looked where there kept , they have there own area ussually about an acre of trees bushes grass and a covered area where they sleep , there injected against disease’s fed oats and trained to escape into that area , and at the end of the competition out of aprox 60 hares maybe 3 or 4 will get killed and the rest are left off where they were caught and would probably live longer than the ones that weren’t caught because of dosed and fed, and they’re not kept in wire cages as shown by you
These wild creatures are held in unnatural captivity for baiting. Hares not visibly injured on coursing day may die from a variety of stress-related ailments following release. Hares deemed unfit for coursing are used in blooding sessions…fed LIVE to greyhounds. Fans swig from beer cans as the hares, their back legs tied together, are ripped to pieces. They call that “training”…The alternative of drag coursing is available…a mechanical lure replaces the live hare. Unfortunately a hard core of fans want to see hares being terrorized, mauled, pinned to the ground, or tossed into the air like rag dolls.
To demonstrate how utterly inaccurate are these assertions regarding the
alleged cruelty-free status of hare coursing, consider these extracts from
the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) reports relating to the
2014/15 season:
Tubbercurry – 9 hares “required assistance” (coursers’ euphemism for
hares hit/pinned by greyhounds), with 1 hare being put down and 4 died
afterwards.
Dundalk – 8 hares “required assistance”, 3 put down.
Balbriggan – 3 hares “required assistance”, 3 died.
Co. Kerry – 4 hares “required assistance”, 2 died.
Borrisoleigh – 6 hares hit by dogs, with 4 hares dying overnight “most
likely from the injuries they received the previous day”, according to the
NPWS ranger.
East Donegal – Ranger stated that 2 hares were hit by dogs and noted on his
report that “2 hares dead in the enclosure on day no. 2. May have died from
injuries on day 1”.
Galway & Oranmore – NPWS ranger stated 6 hares hit by dogs on day 1 (3 hits
and 3 pins), 1 hare put down because of injuries on day 2, according to vet;
and on day 3, NPWS recorded 5 hits (3 hits, 2 pins).
Enniscorthy – NPWS ranger stated 6 hares struck by greyhounds, 1 injured and
1 put down because of injuries.
Lixnaw – Coursers state that 2 hares “required assistance”, 1 treated by
vet and 1 put down because of injuries.
Macroom – Coursers state that 2 hares “required assistance” and 1 died.
This hare was described as “killed” by vet.
Mallow – NPWS ranger stated that 3 hares were struck, “1 of which was
mauled and had to be carried off) on day 1, and 1 hare hit on day 2.
Wexford & District – NPWS ranger stated that 4 hares pinned over the 2 days,
with 1 hare injured and 1 put down because of injuries.
Cashel – Coursers state 1 hare “required assistance” 1 examined by vet
and 1 euthanised by vet.
Thurles – the NPWS ranger was drawn to a smell coming from a box containing
a hare, which had a large injury to the shoulder and front of one of the
legs.” This hare was later euthanised.
North Kilkenny – Ranger report cited 6 hares injured by dogs.
Greyhounds weighing between 60 to 88 lb travelling at 43mph almost inevitably
inflict injury when they strike a fragile 6 to 8lb hare.
So, pro hare coursing politicians
need to accept the reality that this is an inherently cruel blood sport.
Adopting a “Comical Ali” approach to the issue and making claims about
hare coursing that are completely in the realms of fantasy does no credit to
these and other politicians who seek to defend the indefensible.
The only way to eliminate the cruelty from coursing is to remove the hare
from the practice and replace it with a mechanical lure as has happened
throughout continental Europe and in Britain and Northern Ireland. Australia
and New Zealand also successfully switched to drag coursing when they
outlawed the live version.
We urge all councilors to back the substitution of drag coursing in Ireland
for the organized live baiting sessions that are currently permitted by law.
Here is video footage of Irish coursing events, again showing very clearly
that muzzling of greyhounds does NOT prevent hares from sustaining severe
and/or fatal injury in coursing.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLRkXOvbUPNNjMc6LShwiiXBfnDAPbykf-&v=4LrFGNrL0rA
Wow Balbec – its a wonder the hares aren’t queuing up to be allowed to participate…
*facepalm*
Where’s the frape room kiddies on the 2 other stories that show lab/fg up to be the corrupt sum that they are?
???
Complaining about Ferris and his fellow Provos endorsing Coursing, really! These creeps have spent their entire “political” lives endorsing a whole lot worse.
Sure them fluffy, innocent hares, no bother to anything, except apple trees. Farmers need them culled, just like foxes and badgers.
Joey Gee…hares pose no pest control problem. But if they did how could setting them up as live bait at coursing events resolve the problem?
There are three types of coursing in Ireland.
Park Coursing – takes place in an enclosure. Captured hares are released and given a lead in front of the dogs, there is an escape route but the majority of these hares are recaptured and used around at other meets. IMO it is a cruel kind of coursing
Field Coursing – mostly done by people walking through fields with dogs and getting a chase off a hare. In my area it’s mostly done by travellers but in the UK it is a general sportsman past time. The hares are in their own environment and escape the dogs. No different to a chase off a fox.
Open Coursing – This is where beaters gather around a huge area of land, aim of it is the get hares to run through a certain field. All hares are wild and majority escape.
In all cases the dogs are muzzled.
FACT – THERE IS 85% MORE HARES IN A COURSING AREA THAN IN OTHER AREAS. Please don’t judge this past time if you have never been involved in a meet, particularly and open meet. The commradery, the joy of seeing the wild hare, the passion for the hare and its well being is unbelievable. The hares we’ll being is of the utmost importance to any coursing man. Such a beautiful animal and a great past time for country people involved in it.
Dan Moloney…the “preserves” created by coursing clubs for hares are death traps…they are easily accessible to poachers and well publicized…the ICC is forever telling people about the preserves and where they be found. The poachers/lurcher gangs raid them at will and kill the animals.
The essence of coursing can be preserved by taking the live hare of it and holding drag coursing events. This is the norm in the many countries that once permitted live hare coursing but have banned it on animal welfare grounds.
These preserves are well looked after and maintained, poachers are never near them, the hare is too important. Any sign of a strange car/van around and a member of the club is called, all hour of the night and it will be investigated, following from this less burglaries.
Tell me this, have you or any antis ever seen coursing? Or just saw the biased views on these websites. Get to grassroots, do a bit of ground work yourself, meet and talk to coursing people, you might be enlightened.
On the positive side…The majority of Sinn TDs, councilors AND members are strongly anti hare coursing, despite the party’s official stance. In the event that SF went into government with another party, I’d still expect them to push for a ban on hare coursing.
The pro hare coursing position is about placating voters in parts of Kerry and scarcely anyone within SF takes it seriously. The long list of SF politicians who have openly expressed their support for a hare coursing is evidence of this.
That last sentence is missing a word. It should read…”…openly expressed their support for a hare coursing BAN is evidence of this…”
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