Hunt followers attempt to hide cruelty 10 December 2008 Click here to display this video on your website Witness the lengths to which followers of the Ward Union hunt will go to hide the suffering caused to deer during their cruel hunt. Our short film includes November 2008 scenes in which hunt monitors from the Irish Council Against Blood Sports are verbally abused and harassed on public roads. Also shown is the vehicle of a hunt follower driving slowly in the middle of a road in an attempt to interfere with the monitoring and filming of the hunt. The film ends with a montage of footage captured by ICABS over the past few hunt seasons. The footage shows terrified deer being chased by the hounds, cornered, bitten and dragged head-first to the ground. All footage was filmed during Ward Union hunts in County Meath by Irish Council Against Blood Sports monitors. Please respond to our ongoing action alert. Ask Minister Gormley to stop licensing this cruel hunt and to fulfil his party's pre-election promise that they would end blood sports when they got into government. One-click Action Alert: Click here to send an email to Minister Gormley Disappointment as Gormley green lights Ward Union hunt 25 September 2008 ICABS has expressed its disappointment to Minister John Gormley after learning that he has issued another licence to the Ward Union hunt. The licence came despite strong appeals for the hunt to be stopped from practising what is believed to be an unlawful activity under existing animal protection legislation. We are currently awaiting details of the 34 conditions attached to the licence but it has to be acknowledged that no amount of conditions can alleviate the terror and stress of the animals. We are aware of two licence conditions - the deer are to be given a 2km start before hounds are released, and the "hounds must not encounter the deer at close quarters and will be required to withdraw to a distance of 150 metres." How this will be enforced is, to say the least, mind-boggling! As far as we are concerned, these conditions are merely window dressing and the Minister should have refused this licence outright. Our campaign against this cruel and illegal hunt continues. At the end of a hunt, one of the Ward Union hunt's "deer handlers" prevents an exhausted and injured deer from escaping by grabbing hold of its mouth and ear. Another handler attempts to hide the head injury by holding his hand over it. View more photos Minister Gormley's statement on latest hunt licence Mr John Gormley T.D., Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government stated today (12 September 2008) that he had notified the Ward Union Hunt of his decision to grant the Hunt a licence under the Wildlife Act, 1976 with a number of new conditions. Section 26 of the Wildlife Act, 1976, provides that the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government may issue a licence for the hunting of stags with a pack of stag hounds. The Minister has examined the Ward Union Hunt's licence application for the 2008/2009 season and he has decided to issue a licence to the Hunt subject to thirty four conditions. In granting the licence for the forthcoming season, the Minister took account of the High Court settlement reached with the Ward Union Hunt earlier in the year relating to the conditions attached to the previous licence. The Minister also took into account the reports by officials of the National Parks and Wildlife Service of his Department who monitored last season's hunt meetings. The Minister was particularly concerned with the protection of the deer from undue stress and two new conditions have been included on the new licence to reflect his concerns in this regard. The new conditions allow the deer to travel at least 2 kilometres before the hounds are released or if this cannot be confirmed the hounds may not be released until 30 minutes after the release of the deer. In addition, the hounds must not encounter the deer at close quarters and will be required to withdraw to a distance of 150 metres. These new conditions will still allow the hounds to pick up the scent of the deer but address concerns that the hounds should be kept well away from the deer. The other new conditions on the licence relate to limiting the size of the hunt and public safety issues. The Minister also said that officials of the National Parks and Wildlife Service of his Department will continue to monitor hunt meetings to ensure compliance with the conditions of the licence. Videos: Carted deer hunting cruelty Slideshow - Ward Union Duration: 04:06 Ban the Ward Union Duration: 00:30 Carted deer hunting Duration: 04:51 More information about carted deer hunting Carted deer hunting: Leaflet | Photos | Videos | Petition Make a donation to ICABS Please consider making a small donation to ICABS. For more details, please click on the button below or follow this link to find out how to become a campaign supporter. Thank you. News Menu | Join | Top | Home