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Urgent appeal to Minister Dick Roche
26 August 2005

The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has appealed to Environment Minister, Dick Roche, to reject current licence applications for coursing and deerhunting. Please help by responding to our urgent action items.

Urgent Action 01
Urge Minister Roche to deny coursing licence

Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, and his officials in the National Parks & Wildlife Service are currently considering an application from the Irish Coursing Club. The licence would allow coursers to net in the region of 7,000 hares for the upcoming coursing season, due to commence at the end of September.

Please send an urgent message to the Minister, requesting him not to grant this licence. Urge him to insist that the coursers switch to mechanical lure coursing which is practised successfully in the USA and Australia. Remind him that hare coursing is outlawed in the UK and that there is currently a ban on taking hares from the wild in Northern Ireland, leaving Ireland as the last outpost of this cruelty in these islands.

The decision will be made very shortly so time is of the essence. Please call or email Minister Dick Roche now.

SAMPLE LETTER
(Please compose your own personal letter to the Minister if possible. If you do not have time to do this, please express your support for an end to hare coursing by sending in the short sample letter below. Be assertive, but polite, in all correspondence. Thank you.)

Minister Dick Roche
Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government
Custom House
Dublin 1

Tel: 01-888 2404
Locall: 1890 20 20 21
Fax: 01-878 8640
Email: minister@environ.ie

Dear Minister Roche,

As one of the 80 per cent majority of Irish citizens who wish to see hare coursing banned, I implore you to deny a licence to coursers for the 2005/06 season.

Thank you. I look forward to your positive response.

Yours sincerely,

Name/Location

Urgent Action 02
Urge Minister Roche to reject Ward Union's licence application

Environment Minister, Dick Roche, is currently considering a licence application from the Ward Union Deer Hunt for another season (due to start in mid-October) which would again see tame, farmed deer, hounded around the countryside every Tuesday and Friday for "sport".

Please send an urgent message to the Minister, calling on him to reject this licence application and to urge the hunters to switch to drag hunting instead. Remind him that this hunt subjects tame deer to a terrifying ordeal, leaving them exhausted, injured and at risk of dying from heart failure, following a long chase. Tell him that a Veterinary Inspector from the Department of Agriculture outlined the cruelty of this hunt in a 1997 report.

Also, remind him that as these deer do not constitute wildlife and are privately-owned farmed deer, they should not be licensed under the Wildlife Act. In fact, we strongly believe that this hunt is illegal as, we contend, it breaches the 1911 Protection of Animals Act which states that it is an offence to terrorise or cause unnecessary suffering to an animal, being a domestic animal.

Again, time is of the essence. Please call or email the Minister's office now.

SAMPLE LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER (Please compose your own personal letter to the Minister if possible. If you do not have time to do this, please express your support for an end to carted deer hunting by sending in the short sample letter below. Be assertive, but polite, in all correspondence. Thank you.)

Minister Dick Roche
Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government
Custom House
Dublin 1

Tel: 01-888 2404
Locall: 1890 20 20 21
Fax: 01-878 8640
Email: minister@environ.ie

Dear Minister Roche,

Please reject the Ward Union Deer Hunt's licence application. As the deer hunted are NOT wildlife, it would be entirely inappropriate for you to consider issuing a licence under the Wildlife Act. A Department of Agriculture report described this hunt's activities as "inhumane". Please do not licence them for another season.

Thank you. I look forward to your positive response.

Yours sincerely,

Name/Location

Thank you for your support

Dear Supporter,

Many thanks for your help with these two urgent action items. Every email, phone call and letter counts so please continue supporting us in the campaign to bring blood sports to an end in Ireland!

Best wishes.

Irish Council Against Blood Sports


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