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OVER 1,200 HARES that were previously captured for hare coursing have been released back into the wild by clubs affiliated to the Irish Coursing Club (ICC).
The hares had been held for future coursing meetings, which are currently suspended due to Level 5 restrictions.
Their release follows a request by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, who had concerns about the welfare of the hares because they would be kept in captivity for the duration of the restrictions.
The department has been in communication with the ICC in recent weeks seeking to secure the release of the hares.
Minister Daragh O’Brien welcomed the release of the hares, and dismissed claims that releasing them would result in them being hunted illegally by others.
“Hares are a protected species, and are better off being in the wild rather than being held in captivity in large groups,” he said.
“I see no reason why they should have been held for the duration that coursing was suspended.”
O’Brien said claims on social media that the National Park and Wildlife Service would publish the release locations of hares were false.
“That is absolutely not the case and such claims are misleading and designed solely to serve an agenda supporting the retention of the hares in continuing captivity,” he added.
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Abhorrent “sport”
I had no idea this was a thing how can a protected animal be captured and used for sport.
@Colin Mcgahon: the only reason this animal is still alive on this island is the coursing clubs.
@Cian: And without the coursing clubs?
@Cian: there are no coursing clubs in my area of the country, and there are plenty of hares around. Don’t know why some Tipp, Mattie McGrath voting farmer engaging in an abhorrent sport has to do with upkeeping a healthy population of hares in west Galway.
@Cian: Nonsense. Coursing clubs exist for one reason only: To set dogs on hares for fun. You can dress it up any way you wish but that’s the sad reality. I’ve witnessed many coursing fixtures and listened to child-like cries of the animals as the greyhounds maul them or crush their bones. I’ve listened to the deafening cheering from the gathering as the hare is tossed about like a broken toy. Unfit or sick hares tend to end up being fed live to dogs in blooding sessions prior to coursing or track events. And this happening to a supposedly “protected” wild mammal. We need to outlaw live coursing for good. The release of those hares and the suspension of the season is a start. Now it needs to end, so that coursing can join its kindred ” fieldsports”… dog fighting, bear baiting, and cock fighting…in the pages of history.
@Cian: wow what a horrible comment,terrorising animals for sport is just plainly wrong.
@John Fitzgerald: IT REALLY IS DISGUSTING
@Cian: Oh get a grip. Such a Trump-like thing to say. Evidence?
@Cian: what are you smoking have you ever heard the saying at it like rabbits.
@Cian: why do you enjoy terrorising animals for fun
@Cian: don’t be so daft
I am heartened by the news that these hares have been released. Those hares, at least, will be spared the stress and terror of unnatural captivity and the risk of death or severe injury on the coursing field. But surely it’s time to go further and outlaw this appalling so-called sport.
While we humans wrestle with Covid 19, another virus threatens the very survival of the Irish Hare as a species. The RHD2 virus has been rampant in the countryside for the past two years and is fatal to both rabbits and hares. It is highly infectious and one of the ways it can be spread is via the use of nets to capture hares and their subsequent confinement in cramped conditions by coursing clubs.
Hare coursing is due to re-commence on December 1st but there is a strong case, on conservationist and disease control grounds, to extend the suspension to cover at least the remainder of the season, which runs until mid February.
The Irish Hare is a sub species of the Mountain Hare that is unique to Ireland, one of our few truly native mammals that survived the last Ice Age of 10,000 years ago and may been here for eons of time before that. Its disappearance would represent an ecological catastrophe. The threat from RHD2 only adds to the pressure the hare faces from loss of habitat resulting from urbanisation and the downside of modern agriculture.
This animal has long been celebrated in our national folklore, music, and literature and it would be sadly missed by all of us who appreciate its role as the Jewel on the Crown our wildlife heritage.
And as if these sad tidings for the hare weren’t enough there is the inhuman savagery of coursing itself: Animals that are by nature solitary in their own domain are packed together in captivity prior to having pairs of dogs set on them. The ones that aren’t mauled or that don’t get battered or have their bones crushed may die in the wild following release of stress-related ailments.
Former British PM Harold Wilson summed up coursing well when he said: “Nothing of genuine import can be said in its favour, while every humane sentiment cries out for its abolition.”
@John Fitzgerald: how wrong and clueless this entire sentence is that disease is proven not to effect hares.
@John Fitzgerald: harold wilson john you sad muppet
@Cian: wrong. several hares have been found that tested positive for the disease. The science is now firmly against hare coursing.
@Tommy the postman: hare coursers are the muppets this week…they’ve been caught out in their crude porkies…blaming everyone but themselves for their addiction to cruelty…
@John Fitzgerald: the science is actually firmly against the disease being a problem to hares yes while a few contracted it. The hare is extremely unlikely to contract it. Why do you think the coursing season was allowed to resume? The “Blood thirsty savages” (eye roll) that partake in Coursing are not going to risk letting the hares all die are they?
@Cian: “a few contracted it”…it can spread quickly and one way it can be spread is via by the use of nets to capture hares and the confinement of hares in unnatural captivity. So, while coursing should be banned on animal welfare grounds the threat from the RHD2 virus brings abolition closer. Clubs would then presumably resort to drag coursing which requires no hares, unless of course they NEED to see hares suffer…
@Cian: it would be really interesting to hear how you could possibly defend such a disgusting “sport”? Other than that the coursing clubs should actually be applauding for protecting the species, which is laughably ridiculous. I’m sure if the hares could, they’d thank you all personally *eyes roll further than your reaching here*
@Tommy the postman: I’d say you know nothing about Harold Wilson. You sad person
@C: the hare is 18times more populous in areas where there is a coursing club. Do a bit or research
@Cian: Wrong. The study relating to that “finding” was seriously flawed. Only one coursing club (in County Donegal) was involved and the officials knew in advance that the researchers were coming. It therefore has no value. Aside from this, it has no bearing either on the animal welfare aspect…Hare coursing stands condemned for the same reason that dog fighting, stag hunting, and badger baiting are despised: It involves deliberate cruelty to animals posing as “Sport”.
The fact that one thousand , two hundred hares were allowed to be taken from their natural habitats in the first place is absolutely scandalous. Our government pretends that the hare is a protected species while allowing coursing clubs to do this. The aul nod and wink is great all the same.
@Leonard O’mahony: while the 1,200 were collected they examined and released just as much its a great way to check on the native population to make sure they are Fit and healthy if it wasn’t for the tireless work the coursing community does the native hare would be extinct by the hands of our “native ethnic minority”
@Cian:
While illegal poaching has long been part of the rural scene these people make a life an unrelenting misery for landowners, and the havoc they cause is exacerbated by the activities of hare coursing clubs. These bodies, though operating within the law, play into the hands of the lurcher gangs via their “catch and release” practices. The locations where coursing clubs capture hares for their fixtures and release survivors afterwards are well known to the illegal hunters, as are the so-called preserves maintained by some coursing clubs for hares.
Far from helping to protect or conserve the native hare population, coursing clubs are merely setting up these creatures, however unwittingly, for the lurcher gangs.
Is it not enough that hares are used in the cruel ”sport” of coursing, running the risk of being mauled or having their bones crushed by the greyhounds, without the clubs facilitating further savagery by drawing attention to the whereabouts of these illusive gentle creature?
The Irish Hare has been in decline for the past fifty years, mainly as a result of habitat loss arising from urbanization and the downside of modern agriculture. But the twin threat posed by the criminal lurcher gangs and the still lawful coursing clubs adds to its woes.
@Cian: ‘Fit and healthy” to.be hunted by dogs. A disgraceful pastime and how anyone could get pleasure watching a small animal being chased by dogs I will never understand.
@John Fitzgerald: And can I ask you John what do you see happening to the hare population if coursing becomes banned? Will you and your friends Buy a great big farm and let them frolick merrily in the bushes? Please your part of the ban all Brigade and when/if coursing becomes banned in this country you’ll move onto something Else that isn’t “politically correct” and you won’t give a sod about the hares who will die out if coursing becomes banned.
@Cian: Coursing clubs are NOT protecting hares. They capture them so they can set pairs of dogs on them. That is not protection, any more than the “sport” of dog fighting protects dogs. Coursing clubs and lurcher gangs are equally culpable in the persecution of the Irish Hare, even though the two factions blame each other when it suits.
@John Fitzgerald: Hare population is far higher in areas that have a club than those that do not. The hares serve a purpose to some and that purpose is not for the hare to be killed it is for Man to observe the Natural, unique and beautiful dance between predator and prey That has existed since time immemorial. No coursing member wants to see the hare killed we cheer on the hare to get home you’d understand that If you talked to the people who this is everything to them the same way hurling or soccer is to others. Saying we want to see a hare dead is like saying a boxing fan wants to see brain damage Occur to a fighter.
@John Fitzgerald: Using your logic banning the sale of red meat would lead to the native cow population booming…
@John Fitzgerald: John . Your comments here are so informative! Thank you ! Never knew there was an upside to Level 5 …
A good and humane decision by Daragh O’Brien !
@Cian: oh, just shut up.
@Cian: Coursing in NOT “natural”…the hares are snatched from their NATURAL habitat, held captive in UNNATURAL conditions, “trained” to run how the coursing officials think they should, and then, after weeks of confinement, forced to run from dogs that maul them…or pin them to the ground, or crush their brittle bones, or fling them skyward…all so that fans can enjoy a cheap thrill and a gambling flutter. Coursing can’t be reasonably compared to football, but if it is the hare would be the equivalent of the ball…a mere plaything. And the ever so caring coursers pass on injured hares to trainers to feed LIVE to dogs. Coursing a “beautiful dance”? Maybe… to those who get their kicks from watching an animal suffer, who delight in seeing its eyes bulge with terror or its back broken, or who hear its pitiful scream, like a siren piercing the winter air, and think of it as music to their ears…
@Cian: this might be the most embarrassing comment I’ve ever read and it’d be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic. Stop romanticising it as some kind of Spartan battle. It’s a hare. A beautiful, harmless, defenceless animal. And someone who enjoys watching one be tortured has issues. It’s as simple as that. The people standing around watching it aren’t playing Wagner and painting Delacroixs of it either. They’re shouting and cheering like the ignorant savages they are.
Comparing it to actual sport is insulting. You mentioned humans, ie consenting people who know what they’re getting themselves into. The fact that your defence of this cruelty revolves around such tenuous arguments tells me you know well this is a national disgrace.
You must be a yoga teacher Cian, because man can you STRETCH.
@John Fitzgerald: all lies I tell you fake news
@Cian: what a complete knob. Hasn’t a clue about nature. Just a blood thirsty knob that gets pleasure out of cruelty. You need help pal.
@Cian: oh please don’t pretend to care about the health of an animal that you enjoy watching being abused and if ye were allowed torn apart alive. You would be doing the exact same as others you keep mentioning. My family used to be involved in coursing but we became more educated and realised it was so wrong to inflict pain/death for fun. Guess some people will never evolve
Proof of release? Locations of release? What kind of monitoring is used to verify the release occurred of all Hares?
@Tom Collins: Chill the beans!!!
@Gavin Morrissey: These are fair and valid questions.
@C: Not true. I’ve no interest in coursing, but know of at least two areas locally where hares are caught, and ‘perhaps’ released. I’m no landowner, and not originally from the county. Yet it’s well known to all around.
‘A protected species ‘ we should be so proud of ourselves! More truthfully it’s a protected barbaric sport.
This is fantastic news, I wonder how long these wild animals had been in captivity and the conditions they were kept in?
@Ribeard Ó Fiachna: Sure according to Cian, I’d say they were kept in a gold-plated pen and hand-fed fresh watercress every day while PadJoe read them The Hare and The Tortoise at night before they were all tucked in by Cian himself, humming the theme tune from Gladiator.
@C: hahahahaha it’s an animal at the end of the day get a grip of yourself do you Cry to sleep at night thinking about the poor cows/ sheep pigs that get slaughtered for meat just for half the meat to be thrown away? Or are you tucked up in bed watching Netflix on a phone that was made in a sweatshop and the precious metals dug out by infants. The double standards in this world…
@Cian: well I think we all know what hobbies Cian has
Ban the Sport.Actually it’s not a sport.
Fantastic, second chance for a happy life !
@Quentin Boland: Until they’re eaten alive by foxes anyway.
@Richie Cosgrove: Well, you see if that happened, that’s natural. And totally incomparable to what the coursing community engages in but gotta admire the reach there Rich.
Just ban this awful so called sport.
Twelve hundred specimens of a protected species rounded up to be chased by dogs released back into the wild because of covid? Every cloud, as they say..
Hare coursing is banned in most of Europe. Why is Ireland so backward that it still permits the abuse of this endangered native animal to satisfy the blood lust of a small demographic of backward people?
@Maura Rua: Abuse? Blood lust? Small demographic? You really need to do your homework before making comments girl.
These poor creatures were probably kept in cruel conditions by the ‘sick individuals ‘ who captured them… I’d hardly expect them to have fed them and kept them hydrated!
Monsters who practice this kind of cruelty and an embarrassment for our country and its people that we tolerate them.
How absolutely shameful that this barbaric sport is practised.
Gary Yourofsky: “The problem is that humans have victimized animals to such a degree that they are not even considered victims. They are not even considered at all. They are nothing. They don’t count; they don’t matter; they’re commodities like TV sets and cell phones. We have actually turned animals into inanimate objects – sandwiches and shoes.” https://youtu.be/LQRAfJyEsko
Hares to that!
A barbaric so called sport. This freedom for the hares is one upside of COVID.
Farmers have enough to be doing than to hunt sick people who are constantly incentivised by our government to capture these harmless creatures.
If hares are protected why is coursing allowed?! Anyone who participates in, or supports, this “sport” are a disgrace
Unfortunately the on/off approach to coursing is resulting in hundreds of young healthy greyhounds being put to sleep because trainers don’t want the hassle or cost of holding onto them.
@Tinky Freeman: They should give up the blood sport and stop trotting out lame excuses for their involvement in organised animal cruelty.
@Tinky Freeman: It’s hardly surprising that the people who participate in an antiquated, cruel “sport” don’t even care about their own animals. They’re a different class of human.
@C: Agreed. Check out a few dog shelters. Lots of abandoned greyhounds too old to be ‘useful’.
Disgusting people.
“N.P.W.S. Complicit in Slaughter of Hares | WexfordToday.com” https://wexfordtoday.com/2020/11/10/n-p-w-s-complicit-in-slaughter-of-hares/
@Patrick O’Connor: “Wexford Today” online article not to be taken seriously. Very poor journalism. Riddled with inaccuracies, inane assumptions, and unfair, baseless accusations. Completely biased in favour of hare coursing, with no reference to other side of the argument.
@John Fitzgerald: a bit like all the articles posted in national newspapers that all favour the banning of coursing, or if we’re talking about inaccuracies How about the RTÉ special that was done? Trump Himself would of been proud of the lies told in that “documentary”
@Patrick O’Connor: not to mind all he young lads killing hares on the lamp. There would be alot less hares in this country if i wasn’t for the coursing clubs protecting them.
@Cian: The RTE programme was challenged and contested by an assortment of pro animal cruelty codgers and chancers and has passed all tests with flying colours, unlike the shabby insults to journalism that the hare coursers have resorting to citing.
@John Fitzgerald: I hope the irony of you figuratively ripping Cian to shreds with your logic and facts isn’t lost on him.
@John Fitzgerald: you don’t agree with it so it wrong similar arguments could be levelled at your point
@John Fitzgerald: do know of any pro animal cruelty groups
@Patrick O’Connor: They include folks who set up hares as live bait in “sport”…
@Patrick O’Connor: Hare coursers have been exposed this week as ferocious fibbers. And that’s being polite to them. Coursers by day, “lurchermen” by night…dedicated to making hares run for their lives day and night…
@Cian: your defending the indefensible. Like they say you can’t argue with ignorance.
And a hundred metres head start
Ah hare lads!
sick that its still happens in a civilised country
Eat Beans NOT Beings
Great……the lurcher travelling gangs will wage a bloody war now. Very little protection for our wild hares.
@TheITGuy: two wrongs don’t make a right
Good hare day
Hare today gone tomorrow.
Would like to know how many people leaving comments on this have been to a coursing not a lot by the sound of it shouldn’t comment on something you know nothing about
@Jeremiah Clifford: Animals tortured so that a bunch of gobs#tes can get their jollies. Where’s the sport?
@G Row.: as I said you nothing about it
@Jeremiah Clifford: Wrong, i know plenty about it.
Are you a greyhound worrier yourself ?
@Jeremiah Clifford: I’ve seen the cruelty first hand and also the many videos showing what happens at these events. taking pictures can be difficult though. If the officials see you it can mean a severe beating from “sportspeople”…The evidence against hare coursing is overwhelming.
@John Fitzgerald: shocking that he didn’t respond.
Can understand how some people can call it a sport. Should be banned completely.
Were are all anti coursing people when the lucher gangs call around to farmers land tell people they will burn there shed s down if they don’t leave them alone
@Jeremiah Clifford: It’s important to remember that the hare coursers are very often the SAME INDIVIDUALS who go lurching…they just dress a bit differently. Because lurching is illegal. it’s matter for the police, not NGOs, to investigate. Likewise there would be no campaign against coursing if it were banned because then it would become a policing issue.
@John Fitzgerald: not where I’m from
Good hare day
Who has monitored their release? I would very much doubt that all hares have been released by people who enjoy watching animals being abused
How any compassionate person can get a cheap thrill from terrifying a defenceless “protected ” animal ,
Ireland has disgusting animal welfare standards
@keyboardwarrior: they’re not compassionate, that’s the issue. Look at the likes of Cian above. I’d actually be very uncomfortable around someone like that in real life.
Hare today, gone tomorrow
…argh! Noooo!!! I was already preparing the pasta ….. :-)
Ahhhh hare r leave it ouuuut…
I don’t suppose they were released where they were trapped!
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