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Animal Voice, February 2019
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01. Irish Cancer Society rejects cruel foxhunt fundraiser
01. Irish Cancer Society rejects cruel foxhunt fundraiser
A big thank you to the Irish Cancer Society for rejecting a cruel foxhunting fundraiser. The society made the announcement following an appeal from ICABS in which we highlighted the cruelty and killing involved in foxhunting. The issue was covered on Radio Kerry... The Irish Cancer Society will no longer accept donations associated with fox hunting. The Irish Cancer Society will no longer take proceeds from the annual Abbeyeale Harriers Hunting Festival. The society says it made the decision following a number of objections from the public. The Abbeyfeale Harriers Annual Hunting Festival has been running since 2005 and has been donating the proceeds of the week long event to the Irish Cancer Society since then. However, this year the Society has requested that donations generated from fox hunt activities are not sent to them. The organisation says it follows a number of objections from members of the public. Beatrice Caball from Tralee was one of the objectors. "What gratification you're getting out of watching an animal being needlessly - not just being killed - but basically torn asunder - why exactly you'd want to watch that is completely beyond the realms of my comprehension. It's coming to the stage now where so many charities such as the Irish Guide Dogs will not accept money from dog racing because it's regarded as being raised in an unethical manner." However Jim Murphy of the Abbeyfeale Harriers Annual Hunting Festival says they’re very disappointed with the decision. The Irish Cancer Society says it’s very grateful to the many people across the county that take time every year to fundraise but say they do not wish to be associated with fox hunting. https://www.radiokerry.ie/irish-cancer-society-will-no-longer-accept-donations-associated-fox-hunting/ ICABS ACTION ALERT If you wish to make a donation to the Irish Cancer Society, visit Contact the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar and urge him to ban fox hunting. An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar Please sign and share our petition - Ban Blood Sports in Ireland Now Contact the Agriculture Minister now and demand that the exemption for foxhunting is removed from the Animal Health and Welfare Act. Michael Creed TD Appeal to all Irish politicians Please join us in telling the Irish Government that it is now time to ban foxhunting. Contact all your local TDs and urge them to push for a ban on this blood sport. Visit the Oireachtas website for names of TDs and their email addresses http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=32&disp=mem Write to your TDs at: Dail Eireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 01-618 3000 or 1890 337 889. Please also arrange a meeting with your TDs at their local clinics. Keep hunters off your land If you are a landowner, make your land off-limits to hunters. Find out more about how to do this on our Farmers/Landowners Page - http://www.banbloodsports.com/farmers.htm Encourage all land-owning friends and family members in the countryside to show compassion and make their land a haven for wildlife. If hunters are denied access to land, the wildlife will be spared the suffering of cubhunting and foxhunting.
02. Minister Madigan questioned about her licensing of cruel coursing
Campaign newsletter of the Irish Council Against Blood Sports
02. Minister Madigan questioned about her licensing of cruel coursing
03. Vet is joint-master of Limerick foxhunt
04. 2 more vets revealed to be involved in foxhunting
05. Hare suffers broken leg at Rathcormac coursing meet
06. Fury over plans for national animal-testing centre
07. No plans for ban: Unacceptable response from Minister Creed
08. Irish Guide Dogs requests cancellation of greyhound track fundraiser
09. 353 greyhounds INJURED, 121 KILLED at Irish tracks in 2018
10. Horrific badger baiting cruelty continues in Ireland
11. Limerick Ladies Gaelic Football urged to stop greyhound track fundraising
12. Killashee Hotel urged not to host greyhound industry awards
13. Millions for racing as nurses and midwives refused pay rise
14. Foxes running for their lives in Louth as cruel hunt season continues
15. "TOTAL CARNAGE" at Curraheen Park track in Cork
16. Green Party Deputy Leader calls for immediate ban on fur farming
17. Fears for future of hares - BBC Countryfile report
18. Sligo businesses shamefully advertise in coursing booklet
19. Clonakilty businesses urged to stop supporting cruel coursing
20. Another Irish greyhound ends up in China
21. "One of worst cases of animal cruelty": 3 years jail for dog breeder
22. Campaign Quotes
23. Letters to the Editors
Radio Kerry News, 11th February 2019
"We're disappointed with the Irish Cancer Society that they didn't contact the hunt club and find out what our activities are about. People come from all over the country to watch the hounds hunting. They put money into the local community and it's a great social occasion. I'm going up there for 23 years and in that length of time, I would think about five foxes have been killed."
https://www.cancer.ie/get-involved/fundraise/how-to-donate
Upper Merrion St, Dublin 2
Telephone: +353 (0)1-6194020
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie, leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/campaignforleo/
Tweet to: @campaignforLeo
https://www.change.org/petitions/ban-blood-sports-in-ireland
Minister for Agriculture
Department of Agriculture
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Email: michael.creed@oir.ie
Tel: +353 (0)1-607 2000 or LoCall 1890-200510.
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaelcreedtd
Tweet to: @creedcnw
QUESTION
20th February 2019
Maureen O'Sullivan TD: To ask the Minister for Culture; Heritage and the Gaeltacht her views on the need to establish more robust criteria for the granting of licences in view of the amount of footage and evidence brought forward by animal welfare groups in relation to breaches of licences for coursing clubs.
REPLY
Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Josepha Madigan: My Department issued the Irish Coursing Club with licences in August 2018 on behalf of its affiliated clubs to capture and tag hares for the 2018/19 coursing season. There are 29 conditions associated with the licences issued to the Irish Coursing Club which have been developed and refined over the years.
Officials of the NPWS of my Department have monitored 33 coursing events during the current 2018/19 season to date. During the previous 2017/18 season, 35 coursing events were monitored while during the 2016/17 season a total of 17 coursing events were monitored by my Department.
The final event of the current coursing season will take place next Sunday 24th February. All reports in relation to the season will be reviewed and all issues arising, including possible breaches of conditions, will be investigated and considered in the context of applications for licences by the Irish Coursing Club for the 2019/20 coursing season.
03. Vet is joint-master of Limerick foxhunt
A veterinary surgeon is a JOINT-MASTER OF A FOXHUNT in Limerick, the Irish Field has this month revealed.
According to the 1st February report, entitled "Hunting: The great and the good", John Halley MRCVS is a joint-master of the County Limerick Foxhounds.
The Irish Field report - relating to a recent hunt involving 31 hounds chasing foxes - outlined that "joint-master John Halley from Fethard Veterinary was on a grey [horse]". It went on to say that "his guests on the day were no less distinguished, Charlie Appleby, who trained last year’s Derby winner, Masar" and that "John’s driver had a busy morning transporting six hunters from Fethard for the Halley entourage..."
Halley is listed on the Irish Veterinary Council website under Fethard Equine Hospital. http://www.vci.ie/Veterinary-Premises?id=959 His name also appears in an Irish Masters of Foxhounds Association index of Irish fox hunts.
The Irish Field went on to reveal that another vet was present at the hunt..."The Halley family were further represented by David MRCVS who is in the practice with his dad and Jack who runs the iconic Hayes’ Hotel Thurles".
During the hunt which started at Athlacca in County Limerick:
- Hounds "found in the nearby covert and the Limerick Orchestra [euphemism for the sound of the dogs howling] had the volume turned up full". At least one of the foxes in the covert was said to have been "halloaed away" to be chased by the pack; it is not clear what happened to any remaining foxes in the covert.
- Later, "as hounds were approaching the hunt covert, a hot pursuit began" across fields and farms.
- "Shortly after, hounds again found and ran by Boherard Cross over the Bruff/Croom road and finished in Peter Moloney’s outside farm in Crean where he was marked to ground." Marked to ground refers to when the pack of hounds congregate at the entrance to an earth or drain where the fox is trying to find refuge from the pack of dogs. Although not mentioned in this report, it is often followed by digging-out and terrierwork - i.e. hunters send terriers underground to attack and corner the unfortunate fox while they dig the earth away from above before pulling the squealing fox out and killing him.
As well as two vets in attendance at this shameful fox hunt, also present were ex-jockey Paul Carbery, international showjumper Paul Kennedy, Sir Francis Brooke (one of the Queen’s representatives who run Royal Ascot) and Sky Sports presenter Rachel Wyse and her husband Tim Gredley. He was on horseback while she "although a distinguished horsewoman, had chosen to remain on foot".
ACTION ALERT
Urge the Veterinary Council of Ireland to act to stop veterinary involvement in bloodsports such as foxhunting and hare coursing.
Veterinary Council of Ireland
53 Lansdowne Road
Ballsbridge, Dublin 4
Tel: +353 (0) 1 668 4402
Email: info@vci.ie
04. 2 more vets revealed to be involved in foxhunting
ICABS can reveal another two vets who are involved in fox hunting. The Irish Field is reporting that at a recent meet of the Tipperary Foxhounds, “The Hyde family were represented by John Hyde MRCVS (Tim’s cousin) from Glanmire who has already featured prominently in these columns. Veterinary runs in the family, young Tim [Hyde] is also a veterinary surgeon…”
At the hunt in question, foxes ran for their lives across the Tipperary countryside from a pack of 25 hounds.
One fox was “marked to ground” towards the end of the hunt, at which point the pack of dogs “found again to give them the best hunt of the day over monumental country”. They eventually “marked their fox” to ground. Marked to ground refers to when the pack of hounds congregate at the entrance to an earth or drain where the fox is trying to find refuge from the pack of dogs. Although not mentioned in this report, it is often followed by digging-out and terrierwork - i.e. hunters send terriers underground to attack and corner the unfortunate fox while they dig the earth away from above before pulling the squealing fox out and killing him.
Also in attendance at the hunt, according to the Irish Field, were
- “Eminent senior counsel Michael McMahon, now living in Fethard”
- “John Breen, father of international riders Shane and Trevor”
- “Solicitor Peter Reilly from Clonmel” and “Peter Curling, equestrian artist”
Another vet, Antonia Coonan MRCVS, was photographed in the Irish Field of 22nd February on a horse “out for a day with the Tipperary Foxhounds”.
ICABS has brought this to the attention of the Veterinary Council of Ireland as part of a renewed appeal to the body to take action to stop vets participating in fox hunting.
ACTION ALERT
Urge the Veterinary Council of Ireland to act to stop veterinary involvement in bloodsports such as foxhunting and hare coursing.
Veterinary Council of Ireland
53 Lansdowne Road
Ballsbridge, Dublin 4
Tel: +353 (0) 1 668 4402
Email: info@vci.ie
05. Hare suffers broken leg at Rathcormac coursing meet
A hare suffered a "BROKEN LEG" and was destroyed by a vet at a coursing meeting in Cork, newly released documents reveal.
The sickening documents, published on the website of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (which shamefully licenses this cruel activity) shows that at the 2-day Rathcormac coursing meeting in November, the hare was caught and pinned to the ground by muzzled greyhounds. The unfortunate animal was retrieved and examined for injuries. A veterinary report confirms that the hare suffered a broken leg and was euthanised. https://www.npws.ie/sites/default/files/files/coursing-rathcormac-2018-19.pdf
In previous years at Rathcormac coursing meeting, hares have been hit, injured and killed. Among the victims was a hare who “ran to the side of the coursing park, followed by two muzzled greyhounds”. According to a National Parks ranger report: “The hare got through the fencing out into the general field and the two dogs jumped the fencing. One dog dislodged the muzzle and caught the hare. The hare was not killed but was badly injured and was left in a box with another injured hare.”
ACTION ALERT
Urgently contact Minister Josepha Madigan and the National Parks and Wildlife Service and demand that they stop licensing cruel hare coursing.
Minister Josepha Madigan
Minister for Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht
Phone: +353 (0)1 631 3800
Email: josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie; ministers.office@ahg.gov.ie; wildlifelicence@ahg.gov.ie; john.fitzgerald@ahg.gov.ie; Gerry.Leckey@ahg.gov.ie; nature.conservation@ahg.gov.ie
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://facebook.com/JosephaMadiganFG
Tweet to: @josephamadigan
John Fitzgerald
Director, National Parks and Wildlife Service
Phone: +353 (0)1 888 3242
Email: john.fitzgerald@ahg.gov.ie
FIND A SAMPLE LETTER AT
https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/videos/305830036809498/
The Irish Hare is a protected species but an exemption for coursing in the Animal Health and Welfare Act means coursers are not liable for prosecution for their cruelty. Join us in our call to the government to remove the exemption and provide full and permanent protection to this cherished species.
Contact An Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar and ask him to ban hare coursing and give permanent protection to hares.
An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar
Department of the Taoiseach,
Government Buildings,
Upper Merrion St, Dublin 2
Telephone: +353 (0)1-6194020
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie, leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie
Tweet to: @campaignforLeo Tweet to @campaignforLeo
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/campaignforleo/
Please contact all your local politicians and ask them to push for a ban on this blood sport. Encourage your friends, family and workmates to contact them too. Visit the Oireachtas website for names of TDs and their email addresses http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=32&disp=mem Write to your TDs at: Dail Eireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 01-618 3000 or 1890 337 889. Please also arrange a meeting with your TDs at their local clinics.
SIGN AND SHARE THE PETITIONS
Ireland: Ban Cruel Hare Coursing
https://www.change.org/p/ireland-ban-cruel-hare-coursing
Ban Blood Sports in Ireland Now
https://www.change.org/petitions/ban-blood-sports-in-ireland
Irish businesses: Stop supporting cruel hare coursing
https://www.change.org/p/businesses-stop-supporting-cruel-hare-coursing
06. Fury over plans for national animal-testing centre
Fury over plans for national animal-testing centre
The Star, 25 February 2019
Testing on live primates could soon be carried out in Ireland for the first time, according to the Irish Anti-Vivisection Society.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) recently sought tenders for a feasibility study into the development of a national testing lab that would use large animals for research.
It was acting on behalf of CURAM, a national research centre for medical devices based at NUI Galway and funded by Science Foundation Ireland.
Tender documents claim that there has been an increase in the requirement for “large animal medical device trials”.
However, the Irish Anti-Vivisection Society (IAVS) described proposals for a national animal-testing centre as a “moral outrage”.
They claim the government is failing to meet its obligations under EU law to develop alternatives to animal testing.
IAVS also claimed that such a facility could see the introduction of experimentation on live monkeys and apes for the first time in Ireland.
“[CURAM’s] interest in devices for diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases points to the unprecedented use of non-human primates in Irish labs,” said an IAVS spokesperson.
“The experiments at the proposed lab are likely to include inducing debilitating and lethal diseases in the animals, as well as testing devices for their toxicological and bio-compatibility properties.
“Primate models of neurodegenerative diseases are amongst the most severe due to the extreme physical and psychological suffering endured by the damaged monkeys,” they added.
A spokesperson for the HSE said that the agency is performing the function of a “central purchasing body” on behalf of CURAM, which they described as “another public body”.
Neither CURAM nor NUI Galway responded to queries.
--------
Find out more about the IAVS at
http://www.irishantivivisection.org/index.html
CONTACT THOSE MENTIONED IN THE ARTICLE
HSE
Tel: 1850 24 1850 or 041 6850300
Email: hselive@hse.ie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hselive
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/hselive
CÚRAM
Centre for Research in Medical Devices
Biomedical Sciences,
National University of
Ireland Galway,
Galway, Ireland
H91 W2TY
Email: info@curamdevices.ie
Tel: +353 (0) 91 495833
Facebook: https://facebook.com/curamdevices
Twitter: @curamdevices
NUIG Galway
National University of Ireland
Galway,
University Road,
Galway, Ireland
H91 TK33
Tel: +353 91 524411
Email: info@nuigalway.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nuigalway
Twitter: http://twitter.com/nuigalway
07. No plans for ban: Unacceptable response from Minister Creed
"No plans to introduce a ban on fur farming" - Agriculture Minister Michael Creed's COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE response this month to a Dail Question from Maureen O'Sullivan TD in which she reminded him that a Red C opinion poll has confirmed that 80 per cent of citizens are in favour of a fur farm ban. With the Solidarity Party's Fur Farming Prohibition Bill returning to the Dail this June, it is imperative that everyone contacts the government and local TDs to demand an end to this shameful practice. See action alerts below.
On Ireland's three remaining fur farms, an estimated 200,000 mink are permanently caged and at six months of age, they are pulled from the cages and poisoned to death with Carbon Monoxide before the fur is pulled from their bodies.
ALL the political parties in Dail Eireann either currently support a fur farming ban or have backed a ban in the past - including Fine Gael. In 2005, Fine Gael (when in opposition), voted in favour of the Green Party's Fur Farming (Prohibition) Bill which attempted to bring the cruel practice to an end. Fine Gael TDs - including the now Tanaiste Simon Coveney and sitting TDs Richard Bruton, Bernard Durkan, Damien English, Paul Kehoe, Enda Kenny and David Stanton - all voted in favour of the proposed legislation. Sadly, the bill was defeated by 67 votes to 50. More recently, the Labour Party and Sinn Fein have pledged support for a ban on fur farming.
ACTION ALERT
Urge Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister Michael Creed to ban fur farming.
Email "Ban fur farming NOW" to Leo.Varadkar@oir.ie; michael.creed@oir.ie; taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie
Tel: +353 (0)1 6194000 (Leo Varadkar)
Tel: 01-607 2000 or LoCall 1890-200510 (Michael Creed)
Tweet: @campaignforleo @creedcnw Ban fur farming NOW
Comment on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/campaignforleo/
https://www.facebook.com/michaelcreedtd
Email "Please support a ban on cruel fur farming" to all Fine Gael TDs
maria.bailey@oireachtas.ie; sean.barrett@oireachtas.ie; pat.breen@oireachtas.ie; colm.brophy@oireachtas.ie; richard.bruton@oireachtas.ie; peter.burke@oireachtas.ie; catherine.byrne@oireachtas.ie; Ciaran.Cannon@oireachtas.ie; joe.carey@oireachtas.ie; corcorankennedy@eircom.net; Simon.Coveney@oireachtas.ie; michael.creed@oireachtas.ie; michael.darcy@oireachtas.ie; Jim.Daly@oireachtas.ie; john.deasy@oireachtas.ie; Pat.Deering@oireachtas.ie; Regina.Doherty@oireachtas.ie; Paschal.Donohoe@oireachtas.ie; andrew.doyle@oireachtas.ie; bernard.durkan@oireachtas.ie; damien.english@oireachtas.ie; Alan.Farrell@oireachtas.ie; frances.fitzgerald@oir.ie; peterm.fitzpatrick@oireachtas.ie; charles.flanagan@oireachtas.ie; Brendan.Griffin@oireachtas.ie; Simon.Harris@oireachtas.ie; Martin.Heydon@oireachtas.ie; Heather.Humphreys@oireachtas.ie; paul.kehoe@oireachtas.ie; enda.kenny@oireachtas.ie; Sean.Kyne@oireachtas.ie; josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie; helen.mcentee@oireachtas.ie; joe.mchugh@oireachtas.ie; Tony.McLoughlin@oireachtas.ie; Mary.MitchellOConnor@oireachtas.ie; Dara.Murphy@oireachtas.ie; Eoghan.Murphy@oireachtas.ie; hildegarde.naughton@oireachtas.ie; tom.neville@limerick.ie; michael.noonan@oireachtas.ie; kate.oconnell@oireachtas.ie; Patrick.O'Donovan@oireachtas.ie; fergus.odowd@oireachtas.ie; JohnPaul.Phelan@oireachtas.ie; michael.ring@oireachtas.ie; noel@noelrock.ie; david.stanton@oir.ie; leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie
Please contact all your local TDs and urge them to support Solidarity's bill. Contact details for TDs can be found at https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/32
Sign and share our petition - Ban fur farming in Ireland
https://www.change.org/petitions/ban-fur-farming-in-ireland-please-sign-and-share-our-petition
VIDEOS
ICABS footage - Victims of Ireland's cruel far farming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=artr7qwCLLk&index=2&list=PL43C1F00F38986C68
NARA footage showing caged mink in a fur farm in Donegal
https://www.facebook.com/NARAcampaignsIRELAND/videos/1694193503937318/
Mink pulled from cages and thrown into gassing box
https://youtu.be/m52k4aPXahU?t=3m6s
Dail Question, 5th February 2019
Maureen O'Sullivan TD: To ask the Minister for Agriculture; Food and the Marine if a ban on fur farming will be introduced here in 2019 (details supplied). (Details Supplied) in light of the growing list of countries in Europe banning fur farming (including Serbia on 1st January 2019) and a recent Red C opinion poll showing 8 in 10 Irish adults are in favour of a ban
REPLY
Agriculture Minister Michael Creed: My Department has statutory responsibility for the welfare and protection of farmed animals under the European Communities (Welfare of Farmed Animals) Regulations, 2010 (Statutory Instrument No 311/2010) and the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013. Irish fur farmers are, in this regard, subject to the same animal welfare legislation as other livestock farmers.
A review of all aspects of fur farming in Ireland was commissioned in November 2011. The terms of reference of the Review Group were:
(i) To review fur farming in Ireland taking into account existing legislative provisions for the licensing of mink farming;
(ii) To comment on the economic benefits of the sector;
(iii) To consider the effectiveness of existing welfare controls, and
(iv) To make appropriate recommendations
The Review Group invited submissions from the public and interested parties and considered over four hundred submissions which were received.
The Group concluded that it did not find the arguments in favour of banning the farming of fur animals in Ireland compelling and recommended that instead, fur farming be allowed continue under licence and subject to official control. I accept the findings of the review group and its recommendations.
On foot of the Review Group’s deliberations, my Department introduced more rigorous controls on licence holders in the areas of animal welfare, animal accommodation, security and nutrient management. Licensees are subject to regular inspections, including unannounced inspections by Department officials.
Notwithstanding the position in other countries, given the recommendations from the review group, there are no plans to introduce a ban on fur farming in this country.
08. Irish Guide Dogs requests cancellation of greyhound track fundraiser
Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind has requested the cancellation of an unauthorised fundraiser at Kilkenny greyhound track.
The fundraiser, publicised on the Facebook page of Community Radio Kilkenny City (itself a sponsor of greyhound racing), has since been removed.
After being alerted to the fundraiser, due to take place in March, Irish Guide Dogs acted swiftly to reject it. In a statement, the charity stated: “We are not running this fundraiser. We were only made aware of this event last night. We reacted promptly when we realised that it was to be held in a greyhound track and requested that the event is cancelled which we have been advised has now been done.”
“We get great support from people running fundraisers for us all around the country for which we are extremely grateful,” it added. “Everybody at Irish Guide Dogs absolutely loves our dogs and all dogs. Their welfare continues to be our highest priority.”
In 2017, the Irish Guide Dogs was thanked for rejecting another unauthorised track fundraiser. It was promoted online as "Go greyhound racing fundraising evening in aid of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind" and used the charity's logo without permission.
Track fundraisers directly support the cruel greyhound industry (through ticket commissions and revenue from food and drink sales/gambling on the night).
Thankfully, more and more charities are saying NO to greyhound racing. Along with Irish Guide Dogs, these include Cara Projects, Hope Foundation and the Parkinson's Association of Ireland.
With the general public increasingly avoiding greyhound racing - evident in a 50 per cent drop in track attendance - the industry is desperately targeting charities, GAA clubs and schools to organise fundraisers at tracks. We are continuing to appeal to these to show compassion for the dogs and choose alternative fundraising venues. Watch and share our campaign video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjRIa0Jc_DA
Sickening Irish Greyhound Board statistics show that in the past four years alone at Kilkenny track, at least 39 greyhounds suffered injuries and 13 were destroyed by a track vet. At tracks around Ireland in the same period, 1,369 greyhounds have been injured and 438 killed. Every year, an estimated 10,000 greyhounds go missing in the greyhound industry - most likely killed when found to be not quick enough to win races. Others are dumped, drugged, mutilated and exported abroad to countries with little or no animal welfare.
To make a donation to Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, visit
http://www.guidedogs.ie/iopen24/donations.php
ACTION ALERT
Don't attend greyhound races or fundraisers/hen parties/office parties held at greyhound tracks.
It’s an outrage that charities are forced to fundraise while the greyhound industry is propped up every year with taxpayers’ money. Since 2001, the Irish Government has given over a quarter of a billion euros of public funds to the greyhound industry, including €16.8 million for 2019. As reported by ICABS last year, Kilkenny track received a €1 million hand-out from the taxpayer-funded Irish Greyhound Board. This money should instead be given to charities, schools, sports clubs, animal rescue groups, health services, etc.
Join us in an appeal to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe to stop this funding.
An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar
Department of the Taoiseach,
Government Buildings,
Upper Merrion St, Dublin 2
Telephone: +353 (0)1-6194020
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie, leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie, finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: @campaignforLeo
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/campaignforleo/
Paschal Donohoe TD
Minister for Finance
Email: paschal.donohoe@oireachtas.ie, minister@per.gov.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1 6045810
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaschalDonohoe/
Tweet to @Paschald
Please sign and share our petitions
Irish Government: Stop Giving Millions of Euro to Cruel Greyhound Industry
https://www.change.org/p/irish-government-stop-giving-millions-of-euro-to-cruel-greyhound-industry
Stop supporting the cruel greyhound industry
https://www.change.org/p/stop-supporting-the-cruel-greyhound-industry
GAA: Stop club fundraisers at greyhound tracks
https://www.change.org/p/gaa-stop-club-fundraisers-at-greyhound-tracks
Urge Community Radio Kilkenny City to stop sponsoring greyhound racing. Most recently, it sponsored the “Community Radio Kilkenny City 88.7FM A2 Semi-Final” race at Kilkenny track on 25th January https://www.igb.ie/results/view-results/?track=KKY&date=25-Jan-19#race9
Telephone +353 56 776 2777
Text +353 86 353 7782
Email: communityradiokilkennycity@radio.fm
Comment on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CommunityRadioKilkennyCity/
Tweet to @CRKC1
09. 353 greyhounds INJURED, 121 KILLED at Irish tracks in 2018
There are renewed calls on the Irish public to boycott greyhound racing after shocking statistics released this month confirm that greyhounds are continuing to suffer and die at tracks around the country.
353 greyhounds suffered injuries and 121 were killed at tracks around Ireland in 2018, the Minister for Agriculture has confirmed.
The figures bring to 1,559 the number of greyhounds injured and 506 the number of greyhounds killed at Irish tracks in the past four years.
The figures were obtained yesterday by Clare Daly TD through a Dail question to the Agriculture Minister.
Minister Michael Creed told Deputy Daly that the Irish Greyhound Board informed him that there were “353 injuries of varying degree and following veterinary advice, 121 greyhounds were euthanized”.
Injuries to hocks, wrists, legs, necks and tails were among those suffered by the dogs. Dogs also died from “suspected heart attack” - one at Curraheen Park on 29th June and another on 4th May at Clonmel track.
A track-by-track breakdown of these new figures is not yet available but the statistics for January to September showed that Limerick stadium (headquarters of the Irish Greyhound Board) was the worst for dog injuries (39). This was followed by Shelbourne Park (37 injuries), Galway (26 injuries), Mullingar (26 injuries), Enniscorthy (23 injuries), Curraheen Park (22 injuries), Tralee (20 injuries), etc.
In the same period, the track with the highest number of dogs destroyed was Mullingar where 12 dogs were “put to sleep” by a track vet. At Cork’s Curraheen Park, 11 greyhounds were destroyed (exactly half of those injured), while at Limerick stadium, another 10 lost their lives. Thurles Park track had the highest injury to death rate, with two thirds of injured greyhounds killed (i.e. 6 injured and 4 destroyed).
The figures are based on "reported" injuries and deaths, suggesting that the actual number could be even higher. This does not include the greyhounds injured at tracks and later killed elsewhere, or the thousands of greyhounds who go missing each year - presumed killed when found to be too slow to win races.
It's time for the government to bring the cruel greyhound industry to an end by stopping the millions of euros in funding that is keeping it afloat. Nearly a quarter of a billion euros of taxpayers' money has been handed over to greyhound racing since 2001, including €16.8 million for 2019.
REPORTED GREYHOUND INJURIES AND DEATHS AT IRISH TRACKS
2018: Injuries: 353. Deaths 121
2017: Injuries: 357. Deaths: 124
2016: Injuries: 427. Deaths: 139
2015: Injuries: 422. Deaths: 122
Greyhound injuries and deaths by track
(January to September 2018)
Clonmel 15, 06
Curraheen Park 22, 11
Dundalk 10, 06
Enniscorthy 23, 00
Galway 26, 06
Kilkenny 08, 02
Lifford 12, 06
Limerick 39, 10
Longford 07, 00
Mullingar 26, 12
Newbridge 14, 07
Shelbourne Park 37, 08
Thurles 06, 04
Tralee 20, 07
Waterford 08, 04
Youghal 10, 04
10. Horrific badger baiting cruelty continues in Ireland
BBC Newsline has reported on the horrific killing of badgers in illegal badger baiting in Northern Ireland. Peter Clarke, from the Northern Ireland Badger Group told the BBC: "From October to the end of February criminals come out into the countryside to partake in this horrible activity. They will basically come to a sett and put dogs down it to corner the badger. They then dig down to it and let the dogs kill it which can take over an hour while they stand around watching."
If you have any information on badger baiting activities in Northern Ireland, please contact the PSNI. Badger baiting also continues in the Republic of Ireland despite being illegal - if you have any information, please report it to the Gardai.
Badger baiting: 'Hundreds' illegally killed every season
By Cormac Campbell
BBC News NI South East Reporter
18 February 2019
Hundreds of badgers are killed during badger baiting season each year with hundreds of people involved in the illegal activity, it has been claimed.
The USPCA and the NI Badger Group believe the practice is on the rise, in part, due to social media.
It is estimated that there are about 34,000 badgers in Northern Ireland.
It is illegal to kill, injure or take a badger, possess or control a live or dead badger, or damage, destroy or obstruct access to a sett.
Peter Clarke, from the Northern Ireland Badger Group, told BBC News NI that many are dying as a result of badger baiting.
"From October to the end of February criminals come out into the countryside to partake in this horrible activity," said Mr Clarke, who believes badger baiting is more common than many people believe.
"They will basically come to a sett and put dogs down it to corner the badger.
"They then dig down to it and let the dogs kill it which can take over an hour while they stand around watching. They often just bury the carcass in the sett as they wouldn't want to be caught with it."
Dogs are also often injured in the blood sport.
One of the USPCA's investigators, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the BBC: "The badger obviously is fighting for its life so will put up the perfect fight and the injuries the dogs sustain are horrendous.
"I've seen dogs with their bottom jaws removed and their lips completely stripped from their face."
The USPCA investigator believes there are "hundreds of people across the province involved in this activity", the majority being from "hardened criminal groups involved in different types of crime".
He added: "It's a thriving illegal country pursuit across the province and the whole of Ireland but there is a distinct lack of reporting of these illegal activity."
'No excuse'
Police urged the public to report any possible offences.
"Whether these actions are intentional or reckless it remains an offence, and one which the PSNI will investigate and gather evidence with a view to prosecution," said the PSNI.
"Ignorance is no excuse. The dedicated PSNI's Wildlife Liaison Unit offers advice, support and guidance to officers investigating reports of wildlife crime.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-47278414
11. Limerick Ladies Gaelic Football urged to stop greyhound track fundraising
Limerick Ladies Gaelic Football is being urged to stop fundraising at a greyhound track where dogs suffer and die.
In a Facebook post, LLGF states: “Limerick Ladies Football is ‘Gone To The Dogs!’ Let’s celebrate together all the positives of our great sport with a fun night out [at Limerick greyhound stadium in March]!”
Limerick stadium is the worst in Ireland for greyhound injuries, shocking Irish Greyhound Board statistics for the first nine months of 2018 reveal. 39 greyhounds suffered injuries there and 10 were killed by a track vet.
In the past four years alone, at least 1,559 greyhounds have suffered injuries at tracks around Ireland, and 506 greyhounds have been killed by track vets. This does not include the greyhounds injured at tracks and later killed elsewhere.
Meanwhile, at least 2,649 greyhounds have been destroyed in Irish pounds in the past eight years. In addition, thousands of greyhounds go missing each year, presumed killed when found to be too slow. One Irish trainer remarked online: "I've seen dogs being shot. It has to be done as there's too many of them to rehome." A former chairman of the Irish Greyhound Board meanwhile admitted on Cork's 96 FM that he believes it is "absolutely" okay for thousands of dogs to be killed and that racing couldn't exist without the destruction of dogs.
Some of the greyhound industry's horrors have been highlighted on RTE's Prime Time - Limerick Animal Welfare's Marion Fitzgibbon told viewers: "We believe there are probably 10,000 greyhounds put to sleep every year. They can be killed in all sorts of fashions. We've had so many instances of finding them shot, ears cut off, drowned." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIUkAGa708s
ACTION ALERT
Urge Limerick Ladies Gaelic Football to show compassion for the dogs and choose an alternative venue for its fundraiser.
Email: pro.limerick@lgfa.ie
Tel: 087 9662000
Leave a comment on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/limerickladies.gaelicfootball/photos/a.256909794498260/998886313633934
Tweet to @LKLadiesGaelic
12. Killashee Hotel urged not to host greyhound industry awards
A hotel in Naas, County Kildare is being urged to reconsider its hosting of a greyhound racing awards function next month.
Killashee Hotel has been announced as the venue for the “National Greyhound Racing Awards 2018” on 24th March 2019 which the Irish Greyhound Board (IGB) is promoting as “a fantastic opportunity to honour the achievements in our sport”.
The Killashee Hotel has been told about the cruelty of the greyhound industry - for example, in 2018, 353 greyhounds suffered injuries at tracks around Ireland and 121 were killed. Injuries to hocks, wrists, legs, necks and tails were among those suffered by the dogs. Dogs also died from “suspected heart attack” - one at Curraheen Park on 29th June and another on 4th May at Clonmel track.
The IGB’s figures are based on "reported" injuries and deaths, suggesting that the actual number could be even higher. They do not include the greyhounds injured at tracks and later killed elsewhere, or the thousands of greyhounds who go missing each year - presumed killed when found to be too slow to win races.
The 2018 figures bring to 1,559 the number of greyhounds injured and 506 the number of greyhounds killed at Irish tracks in the past four years alone.
Among the awards at the March function will be “greyhound of the year”, “bitch of the year”, “brood bitch of the year” and “stud dog of the year” - https://www.igb.ie/talking-dogs/irish-greyhound-award-nominations/
The IGB is shamefully encouraging youngsters to attend this gambling industry event, selling “children's awards tickets” for €15.
ACTION ALERT
Urge the Killashee Hotel to show compassion for the dogs and scrap its hosting of the greyhound racing awards.
Killashee Hotel
Naas, Co. Kildare, Ireland
Tel: +353 45 879277
Email: sales@killasheehotel.com
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KillasheeHotel
Send a tweet: https://twitter.com/killasheehotel
The greyhound racing awards have been sponsored for the past 11 years by Galway Crystal. Contact Galway Crystal and urge the company to end its support for the cruel greyhound industry.
Galway Irish Crystal
Merlin Park Old Dublin Road
Galway Ireland
Tel: +353 (0)91 757 311
Email: mailorder@galwaycrystal.ie
Leave a comment on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/galwaycrystal/
13. Millions for racing as nurses and midwives refused pay rise
Why is horse and greyhound racing getting tens of millions of euros in government funding every year, while nurses and midwives are refused pay rises. That's the question Dublin Central TD Maureen O'Sullivan put to the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed. Read on for his response...
QUESTION (5th February 2019)
Maureen O'Sullivan TD (Dubin Central): To ask the Minister for Agriculture; Food and the Marine his views on subsidies to industries which promote gambling and its consequences and if he will make a statement on the matter. Details Supplied: €84 million of taxpayers' money to horse and greyhound racing in 2019 (industries that claim to be successful and therefore should be able to fund themselves) / value for money when the Taoiseach states that there is insufficient funding for pay increases for valued public sector workers such as nurses and midwives?
REPLY
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed (Cork North West): Under Section 12 of the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act, 2001 (No.20 of 2001), the horse and greyhound racing industries receive financial support from the State through the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund. In the period 2001 to 2018 a total of €1.2 billion has been paid from the Fund in accordance with the provisions of the Act. Monies are paid out of the fund in the ratio of 80% to Horse Racing Ireland and 20% to Bord na gCon [Irish Greyhound Board] as specified in Section 12 (6) of the Act. State funding provided through the fund is pivotal to the survival of the horse and greyhound racing industries. €84 million has been provided under the Fund for 2019.
Horse Racing Industry
The 2017 Deloitte Report into the Economic Impact of Irish Breeding and Racing, commissioned by HRI, indicates that the total direct and stimulated expenditure of the Irish breeding and racing industry is estimated at €1.84 billion in 2016. In addition, it is estimated that there are 15,200 jobs at the core of the racing and breeding industry or in directly related industries. These jobs are based in rural areas and underpin the health of the rural economy.
Greyhound Racing Industry
A report by Economist Jim Power in November 2017 calculates there are 5,058 full and part-time jobs within the sector, with in excess of 7,000 greyhound owners deriving economic benefit from the industry. The national industry contributes around €300 million to the Irish economy. The industry also has an important social impact on thousands of people, particularly in rural areas.
ICABS NOTE: Irish horse racing suffered major drops in betting as well as falls in attendance and race entries, according to Horse Racing Ireland's "Six-Month Statistics 2018" which shows that attendance at race meetings fell by 2.3% in the first half of 2018 (519,425 to 507,337), with attendance down by a massive 30 per cent in March. Average attendance at races was also down. Betting on horse racing has also seen a huge drop. http://www.banbloodsports.com/ln180725.htm Greyhound racing is also experiencing massive falls in track attendance and sponsorship.
ACTION ALERT
The government's squandering of scarce public money on these gambling industries is particularly deplorable at a time when our country's health and housing is in crisis and so many worthy causes are crying out for funds. Please contact Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, and your local TDs to urge them to stop funding horse and greyhound racing. Visit the Oireachtas website for names of TDs and their email addresses http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=32&disp=mem
Write to your TDs at: Dail Eireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Tel: +353 (0)1-618 3000 or 1890 337 889.
Please also arrange a meeting with your TDs at their local clinics.
An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar
Department of the Taoiseach,
Government Buildings,
Upper Merrion St, Dublin 2
Telephone: +353 (0)1-6194020
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie, leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie
Tweet to: @campaignforLeo
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/campaignforleo/
Paschal Donohoe TD
Minister for Finance
Email: paschal.donohoe@oireachtas.ie, minister@per.gov.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1 6045810
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaschalDonohoe/
Tweet to @Paschald
14. Foxes running for their lives in Louth as cruel hunt season continues
Foxes were forced to desperately run for their lives during a recent hunt in County Louth, as the shameful foxhunting season continues.
According to a sickening 1st February report in the Irish Field newspaper, foxes were disturbed from a large plantation during a meeting of the Louth Hunt. One of these foxes was "marked", while another "gave hounds a good run in the plantation" - he was pursued towards a quarry and through another plantation.
The pack of hounds never gave up, the report outlined, and over a few more fields, they "marked him with fantastic voice in a gully near the road".
In hunting terminology, marking refers to the pack of hounds catching up with the fox and baying loudly at the entrance to an earth or drain where the cowering creature is trying to find refuge. Sadly, this often translates as death for unfortunate foxes when they are flushed out with terriers or dug out by hunt terriermen.
Afterwards, the Louth hunters and their pack of hounds crossed the Slane Road in search of more foxes near a dairy farm, whose owner had hosted another hunt the previous weekend. Later, the hounds had another fox "on the run" near Grangegeeth Hill and they "marked him in furze".
The report says that it was a challenging day for the pack of hounds but they "were rewarded".
It's an outrage that in 2019, foxhunting continues to be legal here. Shame on the Irish Government for failing to act on the wishes of the majority and ban a bloodsport which should have no place in a modern, civilised country. Please join us in contacting Agriculture Minister Michael Creed and the government to demand protection for foxes and a long overdue ban on barbaric foxhunting..
ACTION ALERT
Contact the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar and urge him to ban fox hunting.
An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar
Upper Merrion St, Dublin 2
Telephone: +353 (0)1-6194020
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie, leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/campaignforleo/
Tweet to: @campaignforLeo
Please sign and share our petition - Ban Blood Sports in Ireland Now
https://www.change.org/petitions/ban-blood-sports-in-ireland
Contact the Agriculture Minister now and demand that the exemption for foxhunting is removed from the Animal Health and Welfare Act.
Michael Creed TD
Minister for Agriculture
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Email: michael.creed@oir.ie
Tel: +353 (0)1-607 2000 or LoCall 1890-200510.
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaelcreedtd
Tweet to: @creedcnw
15. "TOTAL CARNAGE" at Curraheen Park track in Cork
"TOTAL CARNAGE" at Curraheen Park track in Cork on 1st February, with five greyhounds "on the ground" at the first bend - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-nvyADJP_k
One of the greyhounds, 1-year-old Sportmans Ivy, "did not finish" the race, suggesting she suffered an injury.
Curraheen Park is one of the worst tracks in Ireland for greyhound injuries and deaths. In the first 9 months of 2018, 22 greyhounds suffered injuries there. Eleven of them were put to sleep by a track vet. Another died from a “suspected heart attack”.
Sickening Irish Greyhound Board statistics show that throughout 2018, at least 353 greyhounds suffered injuries and 121 were killed at tracks around Ireland. This brings to 1,559 the number of greyhounds injured and 506 the number of greyhounds killed at Irish tracks in the past four years alone.
The figures are based on "reported" injuries and deaths, suggesting that the actual number could be even higher. This does not include the greyhounds injured at tracks and later killed elsewhere, or the thousands of greyhounds who go missing each year - presumed killed when found to be too slow to win races.
16. Green Party Deputy Leader calls for immediate ban on fur farming
Green Party Deputy Leader, Catherine Martin TD (Dublin Rathdown) has called on the Minister for Agriculture to introduce an “immediate ban on fur farming on animal welfare and ethical grounds”.
An estimated 200,000 mink are caged on Ireland’s three remaining fur farms and at around 6 months of age, they are pulled from the cages, thrown into gassing boxes and poisoned with Carbon Monoxide before the fur is pulled from their bodies.
Minister Michael Creed has so far refused to commit to a ban on this shameful industry which more and more countries around Europe and the world are banning.
In his response to Deputy Martin, Minister Creed stated: “Notwithstanding the position in other countries, there are no plans to introduce a ban on fur farming.”
Minister Creed’s position is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE. It is contrary to the majority view in Ireland that fur farming is cruel and should be banned. A recent Red C opinion poll found that 8 out of 10 Irish adults are in favour of a ban.
DAIL QUESTION AND ANSWER
Fur Farming
30 January 2019
Catherine Martin TD (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party): To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if an immediate ban on fur farming will be introduced here on animal welfare and ethical grounds (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4466/19]
Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed TD (Cork North West, Fine Gael): My Department has statutory responsibility for the welfare and protection of farmed animals under the European Communities (Welfare of Farmed Animals) Regulations, 2010(Statutory Instrument No 311/2010) and the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013. Irish fur farmers are, in this regard, subject to the same animal welfare legislation as other livestock farmers.
A review of all aspects of fur farming in Ireland was commissioned in November 2011. The Terms of Reference of the Review Group were:
(i) To review fur farming in Ireland taking into account existing legislative provisions for the licensing of mink farming;
(ii) To comment on the economic benefits of the sector;
(iii) To consider the effectiveness of existing welfare controls, and
(iv) To make appropriate recommendations
The Review Group invited submissions from the public and interested parties and considered over four hundred submissions which were received.
The Group concluded that it did not find the arguments in favour of banning the farming of fur animals in Ireland compelling and recommended that instead, fur farming be allowed continue under licence and subject to official control. I accept the findings of the review group and its recommendations.
On foot of the Review Group’s deliberations, my Department introduced more rigorous controls on licence holders in the areas of animal welfare, animal accommodation, security and nutrient management. Licensees are subject to regular inspections, including unannounced inspections by Department officials.
Notwithstanding the position in other countries, given the recommendations from the review group, there are no plans to introduce a ban on fur farming.
17. Fears for future of hares - BBC Countryfile report
A BBC Countryfile report (11 Nov 2018) raises fears that the horrendous rabbit-killing virus, Myxomatosis, is responsible for the deaths of large numbers of hares across Britain.
"I was getting more and more reports from people finding bodies of these beautiful animals with clear signs of a painful death," programme reporter Tom Heap says in his introduction. "First fears were that this could be the horrific rabbit disease Myxomatosis - since the 1950s, this highly contagious virus has killed generations of rabbits. It's devastating - badly swollen eyes and ears, breathing problems, convulsions, then death."
A landowner interviewed on the programme estimated that three quarters of hares in his area had died, with several carcasses found along the margins of his fields. Meanwhile, a Myxomatosis expert said that despite the UK's Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs having yet to confirm myxomatosis in hares, dead hares she examined showed definite symptoms of the virus.
Countryfile outlined that the jump of the virus from rabbits to hares was proven by government tests in Spain earlier this year. The tests were carried out after numerous hares were found dead.
"Don't think being an island nation keeps us safe." Tom Heap warned, as he arrived to an island off the coast of Suffolk. The nature reserve has seen a "devastating downturn" in hare numbers. The remains of six hares - or half the island's population - have been discovered in recent weeks.
A representative of Suffolk Wildlife Trust noted that hares are already declining due to other other factors and that "any more pressure on the population is really pretty concerning".
Here in Ireland, Myxomatosis is prevalent in rabbits but so far there have been no confirmed cases in hares. Quoted in the Irish Times of October 16th, a Department of Agriculture spokesperson stated: “Recent reports of myxomatosis in brown hares in the UK is of interest, and Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine regional veterinary laboratories have been made aware of this finding. There have been no reports of myxomatosis-like syndromes in Irish hares, nor have there been any confirmed cases..."
The government should immediately take precautions in the face of what could be a death blow for the Irish Hare if it reaches our shores and starts claiming the lives of hares. It presents another very good reason for Minister Josepha Madigan to withdraw the 2018-19 hare coursing licence she issued and stop all forms of hare hunting. The licence allows coursers to net thousands of hares from the wild and keep them in activity for weeks before using them as live lures for dogs to chase.
"The hare is a solitary creature, but in coursing up to 80 captive hares at a time are held in compounds or paddocks in the days or weeks prior to the holding of coursing fixtures," John Fitzgerald of the Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports states in the Irish Times report. "If any hare has picked up the disease and is among those captured by the net-men, the animal could quickly infect large numbers of other hares. This represents a potentially grave threat to our hare population."
How did myxomatosis originally get to Ireland? In a past report, nature columnist Michael Viney wrote that "'progressive' farming leaders" shamefully introduced "the plague of myxomatosis" to Ireland in 1954 - "a secret share-out of skin from a victim sent in the post from the UK was rubbed on rabbits around Leinster and farmers flocked to Castletown to collect diseased rabbits." The rabbits were cruelly targeted because they grazed on meadows and crops.
ACTION ALERT
With warnings from wildlife experts that the species is in trouble, it is now more clear than ever that the Irish Hare must be given full protection. Urgently contact Minister Josepha Madigan and the National Parks and Wildlife Service and demand that they revoke the 2018-19 hare coursing licence and end all forms of hare persecution.
Minister Josepha Madigan
Minister for Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht
Phone: +353 (0)1 631 3800
Email: josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie, ministers.office@ahg.gov.ie, wildlifelicence@ahg.gov.ie, john.fitzgerald@ahg.gov.ie, Gerry.Leckey@ahg.gov.ie, nature.conservation@ahg.gov.ie
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://facebook.com/JosephaMadiganFG
Tweet to: @josephamadigan
John Fitzgerald
Director, National Parks and Wildlife Service
Phone: +353 (0)1 888 3242
Email: john.fitzgerald@ahg.gov.ie
18. Sligo businesses shamefully advertise in coursing booklet
Shame on the Sligo businesses who supported a hare coursing meeting by advertising in its booklet.
Among the businesses advertising at the Tubbercurry/Ballymena/Kilcreevin/BallyMote coursing meeting were Gillespie's Menswear & Sport, McCarrick & Sons Auctioneers and Nathy Brennan's pub.
At the cruelty event, hares ran for their lives as pairs of greyhounds were unleashed to chase them - all for the entertainment of a merciless mob who cheered on the dogs and gambled on which would reach the hare first and force the terrorised animal to change direction.
Last year, 80 hares were captured for the meeting, including 51 from Oyster Island off the coast of Sligo. Over the three days, 8 hares were pinned and mauled into the ground by greyhounds, 6 more suffered hits and 4 were confirmed injured by a vet. https://www.npws.ie/sites/default/files/files/tubbercurry-report-2018.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0xQQHuoXYvg03HfYUZp-j_LBHLrnce-xrAoXYFVgQes2sLos2aW2cjOaI
Please contact these businesses and urge them to stop supporting hare coursing.
Gillespie's Menswear & Sport
Teeling St. Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo
Telephone: 00353 (0)71 9185051
Email: shopgillespie@eircom.net
McCarrick & Sons
Teeling Street, Sligo
Telephone: 00353 (0)71 918 5050
Email: info@reamccarrick.ie
T Brennan pub (Nathy Brennan's)
Teeling Street,
Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo
19. Clonakilty businesses urged to stop supporting cruel coursing
Shame on the local businesses who supported the Clonakilty hare coursing meeting on 11-13 January.
Among the businesses which advertised in the coursing club booklet were pubs, hotels, shoe shops, an opticians and a florist. Please see full list below and join us in contacting each to urge them to show compassion for the hares and end their support for a bloodsport which a majority in Ireland wants outlawed.
Also, please sign and share our new petition
Businesses: Stop supporting cruel hare coursing
https://www.change.org/p/businesses-stop-supporting-cruel-hare-coursing
At the Clonakilty coursing meeting, pairs of greyhounds were unleashed to terrorise hares in an enclosed field. Video footage shows one of the hares being hit by a greyhound and sent somersaulting into the air before crashing into the ground.
Businesses which sponsor hare coursing and advertise in coursing meeting booklets are helping to keep alive this, one of Ireland's worst forms of cruelty to animals.
In coursing, thousands of hares are forcefully captured from the wild in nets, held in captivity for weeks or months and forced to run for their lives from pairs of greyhounds.
Hares caught and hit by the muzzled dogs can suffer painful, life-ending injuries such as broken bones and dislocated hips. Every coursing season, hare injuries and deaths are documented. The hares who survive the coursing ordeal, and are later released back to the wild, are at risk of subsequently dying from the stress-related condition known as capture myopathy.
Witness the cruelty of hare coursing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjOP4zqqGJE
ACTION ALERT
Contact the businesses below which advertised in the Clonakilty coursing club booklet.
Fernhill House Hotel
"Best of luck to Clonakilty Coursing from Fernhill House Hotel"
"West Cork Derby. Kindly sponsored by Fernhill House Hotel"
Tel: 023 8833258
Email: info@fernhillhousehotel.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FernhillHouseHotel
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fernhillclon
Ostan Imperial Hotel, Clonakilty
Tel: (023) 8834 185
Email: imperialclon@gmail.com
Kevin O'Regan Fuchsia Footwear
"Best wishes to Clonakilty Coursing Club from Kevin O'Regan Fuchsia Footwear"
Tel 023 883 3136 (Clonakilty)
Tel 028 21629 (Skibbereen)
Email: info@fuchsiafootwear.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KORFuchsiaFootwear/
The Flower Basket
Western Road, Clonakilty
Tel: (023) 88 33 535
Email: info@theflowerbasket.ie
Scannells Pub Clonakilty
"Continued success from Shane and Kevin, Scannells Pub"
Tel 023 8834116
Email: info@scannells.ie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/scannellsbar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scannells.bar
Forristal Opticians
"Best wishes from Forristal Opticians"
1 College Road, Clonakilty
Tel: +353 23 8835488
Email: johnpaul@forristalopticians.ie
The Doheny Bar
"Best of luck to Clonakilty Coursing club from The Doheny Bar"
"Doheny Bar and Facthna McCarthy Engineering Perpetual Cup. Kindly sponsored by Martin Brickley"
Tel: (023) 884 5973
John Lowney Jewellers
24 Ashe St, Clonakilty
Tel: (023) 883 3614
Email: lowneyjewellers@eircom.net
Phairs Pub, Clonakilty
"Best of luck to Clonakilty coursing club from Brian and all at Phairs"
Tel: 086 352 7047
Email: phairsshannonvale@gmail.com
Fachtna McCarthy Engineering, County Cork
"Wishing continued success to Clonakilty coursing club"
Tel: 087 251 9690
Email: fmccarthyeng@gmail.com
Murphy Insurances Ltd, Courtmacsherry and Clonakilty
Tel 023-8833499
Email: info@wmurphy.ie
Keohane Readymix
"Champion Open Stake. Kindly sponsored by Keohane Readymix"
Clonakilty and Knockroe
Tel: 021 477 5599
Email: info@keohanereadymix.ie
Cork Oil Collectors
Best of luck to Clonakilty coursing
Tel: (021) 4353437
Edward Donnelly Bookmaker
"Best of luck to Clonakilty coursing club from Edward Donnelly Bookmaker"
Crowley's Bar
Bantry, Co Cork
Tel: (027) 50029
Pat O'Sullivan and Sons Building Contractors
Licensed Vintners and Funeral Directors
Western Road, Clonakilty
Tel: 023-8835 421
Mobile: 086 0456 895
Email: daytonaconstruction@gmail.com
MJ O'Neill and Sons Victuallers
Tel (023) 883 3345
Edward Twomey Victualler
Pears St, Clonakilty
Tel: +353 (0)23 88 34835
Email: info@clonakiltyblackpudding.ie
Greyhound and Pet World, Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick
Tel: 068 31389
Email: greyhounds@eircom.net
"Best wishes to Clonakilty coursing club"
Shannon Vale Foods
"Continued success to Clonakilty Coursing Club from Shannon Vale Foods"
Tel: 023 88 33608
Email: info@shannonvalefoods.ie
Riverview Veterinary Group
"Continued success to Clonakilty coursing"
The veterinary group has since responded to say that it will "review all our sponsorship immediately and ensure that our future sponsorship is consistent with our animal care values".
20. Another Irish greyhound ends up in China
An unfortunate Irish greyhound who was last seen in August at Newbridge stadium has ended up in China, a country with NO ANIMAL WELFARE LAWS.
Caged Nationwide has reported that the 2-year-old greyhound named Shaneboy Jasper "has found himself exported to mainland China - specifically Zhangwu County - in November 2018". An image shows the listing for Shaneboy Jasper on a Chinese breeding database - https://www.facebook.com/cagednw/photos/pcb.1957195131055279/1957195021055290/?type=3&theater
"The exports to China continue under the noses of the Irish Greyhound Board and Michael Creed of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine," Caged NW states in a Facebook post.
The Irish Greyhound Board website lists the owner and trainer of Shaneboy Jasper as "MR. TREVOR SNELL, County Laois".
Details show that the black and white greyhound was first raced in Shelbourne Park in Dublin on 7th June 2018. During the summer, he was entered into six more races at Shelbourne Park, including the "Boylesports A3 525 Semi-Final" and "The Gain Record Breaker A3 525 Semi-Final".
Before ending up 10,000 km away in China, he was raced three times at Newbridge stadium where he finished first in each race. His final race in Ireland was on 31 August in Newbridge in the "Run a Fundraiser A4/A5 525 Final".
There is disgust and outrage at the export of another Irish dog to China, with reaction including "Absolutely shocking, poor poor dog", "No animal should be exported to any country with known bad welfare laws" and "This is why greyhound racing needs banning".
A petition set up by US greyhound group Grey2K, calling on the Irish Government to stop the export of greyhounds to China, has been signed by more than 364,000. The petition can be signed at https://www.change.org/p/prime-minster-taoiseach-enda-kenny-stop-export-of-irish-greyhounds-to-china
ACTION ALERT
Urgently contact Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Agriculture Minister Michael Creed to demand legislation to prevent any more Irish greyhounds being sent to China and for action to be taken to rescue and rehome the Irish greyhounds currently in China.
An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar
Government Buildings,
Upper Merrion St, Dublin 2
Telephone: +353 (0)1-6194020
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie, leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie, finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: @campaignforLeo
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/campaignforleo/
Michael Creed TD
Minister for Agriculture
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Email: michael.creed@oir.ie
Tel: 01-607 2000 or LoCall 1890-200510.
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaelcreedtd
Tweet to: @creedcnw
Please sign and share our petitions
Irish Government: Stop Giving Millions of Euro to Cruel Greyhound Industry
https://www.change.org/p/irish-government-stop-giving-millions-of-euro-to-cruel-greyhound-industry
Stop supporting the cruel greyhound industry
https://www.change.org/p/stop-supporting-the-cruel-greyhound-industry
GAA: Stop club fundraisers at greyhound tracks
https://www.change.org/p/gaa-stop-club-fundraisers-at-greyhound-tracks
21. "One of worst cases of animal cruelty": 3 years jail for dog breeder
"One of worst cases of animal cruelty": Three years in jail for licensed dog breeder Jim Kavanagh, from Raheenleigh, Myshall, who this month pleaded guilty to 30 charges of animal cruelty, in relation to dogs and horses...
Carlow man jailed for three years for animal cruelty
RTE News, 22 Feb 2019
By Sharon Tobin
A Carlow man has been sentenced to three years in jail for animal cruelty.
Licensed dog breeder Jim Kavanagh, from Raheenleigh, Myshall, pleaded guilty to 30 charges of animal cruelty, in relation to dogs and horses.
He was also instructed to pay €35,000.
Judge James McCourt also banned Kavanagh from being involved with canines or equines for the rest of his life.
His wife Jenny Kavanagh, who pleaded guilty to 30 charges of permitting animal cruelty, was given a 12-month suspended sentence.
She was banned from having canines for 15 years.
Over 11 days, 340 dogs and 11 horses were removed from the property of licensed dog breeders, at Myshall in Carlow.
The searches were carried out by gardaí and the ISPCA.
Jim Kavanagh, 48, pleaded guilty to 30 charges, with 96 other counts to be taken into consideration by the court.
Jenny Kavanagh pleaded guilty to 30 charges in relation to 15 animals.
Chief Investigator Garda Catriona Dennehy gave evidence to Carlow Circuit Court about the search on 15 April 2015.
She said dogs were observed in cages with no water, with bedding that was urine soaked and covered in faeces, horses with bones protruding, and a number of dead animals were found around the property.
Garda Dennehy said the animals were "forced to live in absolute squalor with straw that hadn't been changed in a long time".
The dogs appeared "scared" and "unsocialised", she said.
ISPCA Chief Inspector Conor Dowling was also present for the search.
He described what they found as "deplorable conditions", which were "shocking, very shocking".
Mr Dowling said the condition of one animal, was "one of worst cases of animal cruelty" he'd seen in a long time.
He described "recurring issues" with the dogs' with eyes, ears and coats.
He observed bitches due to pup and said of one: "If she whelped in that environment they (pups) wouldn't have lasted very long.
"20 years in the job and never before have I come across something like this.
"The scale and severity was far and above anything I've come across."
Due to the large number of animals involved, the ISPCA enlisted the help of other SPCAs and the Dogs Trust.
The outlay was €59,149, not including manpower.
Four horses and 20 dogs had to be euthanised.
The court was shown a ten-minute video of the search in which dogs were seen feeding on a decomposing horse carcass.
A dead sheep and lamb were seen on a trailer, suspected to have died during lambing.
There we also a number of dead dogs in sheds and around the property, which had not been disposed of.
Following the search, a closure order was served because of the "grossly substandard" conditions and the "massive animal welfare and health issues".
There were also public health conditions because of the sheds' proximity to a river and water treatment facility.
Six months prior to the search in 2015, the Myshall property was inspected by Carlow County Council for the purpose of granting a dog breeding licence and no issues were raised.
Colm Cody SC, representing Jim Kavanagh, said the evidence was "grim and inexcusable", but said "what we are dealing with here is neglect rather than cruelty".
Roisin Lacey SC, representing Jenny Kavanagh, said the Kavanaghs and their children have been subjected to abuse and threats on social media, which included giving details of their address and "talk about burning them out".
Jenny Kavanagh was described as a housewife, carer, mother and "an ordinary woman who has become embroiled in an extraordinary situation".
A large number of animal welfare activists were in court for today's hearing. They gathered outside the courthouse holding signs and placards.
In passing sentence on Jim Kavanagh, Judge James McCourt said it was "extraordinary to find someone of farming stock guilty of such an appalling crime".
He said the images were "hard to comprehend" and the "scene was biblical".
In sentencing Jenny Kavanagh, he said a custodial sentence on the mother of five would serve no purpose.
However, he said he found it hard to credit that she had not been aware that something was amiss, with dead carcasses around the place.
Animal welfare campaigners cheered in court when the sentences were handed down.
A statement was issued on behalf of 52 animal rescue centres thanking Carlow gardaí for organising the raid and seizing the Myshall animals.
They said: "The independent animal rescue community welcomes the custodial sentence imposed on James Kavanagh. We hope it marks a new departure in sentencing for individuals guilty of animal cruelty."
https://www.rte.ie/news/courts/2019/0222/1032237-carlow-animal-cruelty-court/
“Illegal hunting at night using lamps or dogs is common...Trapping songbirds is rife...Especially worrying is hare poaching. Coursing clubs love to quote a report from Queen’s University which suggested that there are more hares in areas where coursing takes place. It seems only one club was surveyed - East Donegal - with the hares being counted by the coursers themselves. The reality is a scarcity of these supposedly protected creatures…” - Fiona O’Connell, Lay of the Land column, Sunday Independent, 17 February 2019
“I’ve hunted with the Longford Hunt” - Philip Reynolds, C&D Pet Foods and son of former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds. Marian Finucane Show, RTE Radio 1, 23 February 2019.
Ciara O’Neill was hunting with her father Gary (the incoming joint-master of the Ballymacads) from the well-known Fincourt Hotel in Oldcastle, a favourite hostelry for hunt followers.” from an Irish Field report on the Ballymacad Foxhounds, 18 January 2019
Gerry Boylan were on hand while their fellow joint-masters Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony and Kieran Ryan were on other duties. Boylan’s company Boylan Print in Drogheda prints what is often referred to as the Irish equestrian bible - The Irish Field Directory. Boylan was hunting with his wife Louise and their daughter Abigail who was hunting the well-known dun Connemara pony Harvey. The pony is now 19 years of age and he hunted for 12 seasons from the time Olivia Duff of the Headford Arms Hotel in Kells bought him as a three-year-old. Now Abigail has hunted him for four seasons, and he is keen as ever. Irish Field report on the Louth Foxhounds, 1 February 2019
"There's no glossing over the cruelty that is involved in live hare coursing": Maureen O'Sullivan TD in a Dail debate with Agriculture Minister Michael Creed, 6 December 2018.
Help raise awareness about Ireland’s animal cruelty issues – write letters to the editors of local and national newspapers to highlight the suffering of animals in hare coursing, foxhunting, etc.
Hare-Coursing as bad as puppy farm
Irish Examiner, 26th February 2019
The Carlow puppy farm from which 340 dogs and 11 horses had to be removed exposes the squalid nature of designer dog breeding, and the ISPCA deserves the highest praise for its rescue of the animals from that canine House of Horrors.
But Ireland is awash with animal cruelty. Some cruel practices are illegal but others, such as hare coursing and fox hunting, are not. Domestic dogs are protected, whilst the wild dogs of the countryside, our beautiful native red foxes, can be hounded to exhaustion.
The skin is ripped from the bones of these unprotected creatures. Foxes that escape underground are dug out with the aid of terriers, with both foxes and terriers getting horribly mauled in the process.
A few weeks ago, RTE reported from the National Hare Coursing "festival" in Clonmel where gamblers roared their approval as captive wild animals ran in terror from hyped-up dogs. This all legal, because people are licensed by a government department to snatch these inoffensive mammals and set them up as live bait. Videos uploaded to Facebook and Youtube show hares at Irish coursing events being mauled, forcibly struck, battered, and tossed about like broken dolls.
And many greyhounds whose running days have ended are abandoned or killed, usually with the whack of a shovel or a bullet in the brain. Shallow graves containing their sad remains have been unearthed all over Ireland. Unwanted Irish greyhounds may also find themselves, after export, being raced to death on poorly supervised Spanish tracks or skinned alive for the meat markets of Southern China.
Existing animal welfare laws need to be rigorously enforced, but also updated to include the abolition of hare coursing and fox hunting and the complete protection of Ireland’s ill-treated and much misunderstood greyhounds.
John Fitzgerald
Callan, Co Kilkenny
As Nature Intended
Mail on Sunday, February 17th 2019
I’ve just seen some beautiful pictures taken by a Belfast-based wildlife photographer, each showing a reddish brown Irish Hare, relaxed and undisturbed in our verdant countryside...untouched by human interference.
That’s where hares belong, in their own grassy habitat, as nature intended...not wriggling and struggling in a net placed by a coursing snatcher...or in captivity being manhandled by humans...or running for its life from two dogs for the amusement of gawkers and gamblers...or stretched out dead; “dispatched” after sustaining bone breakage or other injuries on a coursing field.
The hare has no voice, unlike the well-heeled coursing lobby and the politicians who refuse to legislate against a "sport" that shames our nation. It’s up to humans to take a stand on its behalf so that some day this jewel of our wildlife heritage will be able to live out its short humble life... free from the scourge of live hare coursing.
John Fitzgerald,
Callan, Co. Kilkenny
Shame of hares sent to the dogs
Sunday Independent, 3rd February 2019
Callers to RTE’s Liveline this week lambasted an Irish army officer who shot elephants and other exotic animals in Zimbabwe, and rightly so, as these magnificent animals are endangered species, apart from their right to live their humble lives in peace.
But spare a thought for the hares that will be forced to run from frenzied dogs at the so-called National Coursing Festival. The gentle Irish Hare doesn't roar like a lion, or carry itself with the elegant gait of a Siberian or African tiger, but it's surely as entitled to live its simple life free from the “sporting” attention of human predators as any of the exotic fauna that feature in wildlife documentaries.
Thanks to political cowardice and inaction on the part of Ireland’s political establishment, the supposedly "protected" Irish hares will be set up as live bait at a latter-day Coliseum in early February.
Deliberate cruelty to wildlife is a crime against the animal kingdom, whether the victim happens to be a mighty elephant, a lumbering hippopotamus swishing its way across a river...or an Irish hare fighting for its life on the coursing Field of Shame.
John Fitzgerald,
Callan, Co Kilkenny
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If you like our work, please consider making a donation. The Irish Council Against Blood Sports relies entirely on your generosity to continue our campaigning for an end to blood sport cruelty.
Please become a supporter of our work today - click on the Paypal button at www.banbloodsports.com to make a donation or send a cheque made payable to ICABS to ICABS, PO Box 88, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, Ireland. Thank you very much.
Top ways you can help the campaign
| Top ways you can help the campaign | |
| • | Join our email list and respond to our Action Alerts |
| • | Become a campaign supporter and make a donation to help fund our efforts |
| • | Contact your local politicians and ask them to support a ban on blood sports |
| • | Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube |
| • | Sign up for our free text alert service and receive occasional campaign updates to your phone |
| • | Link to our website and display one of our banners |
| • | Monitor blood sports meetings in your area and provide us with photos, video and reports. |
| • | Write a letter to your local newspaper about the cruelty of blood sports |
| • | Sign and collect signatures for our petitions |
| • | Organise a fund-raiser to help raise funds for the campaign |
| • | Set up an online anti-blood sports group to cover your area. |
| • | Download, print and display our posters and leaflets |
| • | Set up an information stand at your school/library/youth group/adult group, etc |
| • | Introduce your friends to our website and encourage them to get involved. |
| • | Simply keeping your ear to the ground. about any blood-sport related incidents in your area. |
Keep hunters off your land
Make it known publicly that your land is off-limits to hunters. Place a preservation notice in your local newspaper now. Here is a sample notice that you may wish to use: "Take notice that all my lands at [Insert address(es) of land] are private and preserved day and night. All forms of hunting and shooting are strictly prohibited. Trespassers will be prosecuted. Signed [Insert name(s) of landowner]" For more information, click on Farmers at www.banbloodsports.com
Tune in to the ICABS Channel
Footage of blood sport cruelty and the humane alternatives can be viewed on the ICABS Channel on Youtube - www.youtube.com/icabs or by clicking on "Videos" at www.banbloodsports.com Please ask your local TD/Senator to view our videos and back a blood sports ban.
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