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Cruellest terrierwork pictures and video come from Ireland
04 April 2013
The director of the UK's Campaign for the Abolition of Terrierwork has noted that in his organisation's 10 years of collating animal cruelty, "the cruellest pictures and videos have come from Ireland."
In an appeal to Agriculture Minister, Simon Coveney to ban digging-out and terrierwork, Director Peter Merton highlighted the growth of terriermen traffic between the UK and Ireland.
"A number of times, RSPCA officers have been stationed at ferry ports watching known criminal figures involved in terrierwork move backwards and forwards between Britain and Ireland to meet up with other known men and share their passion for digging out and terrierwork," he stated. "This puts a huge pressure on Britain's Wildlife Crime experts as the movement between the two countries grows."
He added: "You must also take note that men involved in using terriers underground become bored with their soft target (fox) and move on to other activities which range from badger digging to dog fighting."
Find out more about the Campaign for the Abolition of Terrierwork at www.diggingout.org
ICABS is renewing its call on Agriculture Minister, Simon Coveney to ban digging-out and terrierwork. Please scroll down to support our action alert.
Video: Digging Out and Terrierwork Cruelty in Ireland
ACTION ALERTS
Please contact the Minister for Agriculture and demand an end to digging out and terrierwork.
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Minister for Agriculture
Dear Minister, I support the Irish Council Against Blood Sports' call on you to urgently outlaw both digging out and terrierwork. These horrendous acts of cruelty are carried out by sadistic individuals and also by merciless foxhunting groups (when terrified foxes try to find refuge underground). There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for this shameful animal abuse and it must be stopped. Please make it an offence NOW to dig out any animal or send terriers below ground to catch and attack animals under any circumstances. I also call on you to outlaw the use of packs of hounds to harass, attack, injure and/or kill any animal. Thank you, Minister. I look forward to your positive response. [Your Name and Location] |
Appeal to all Irish politicians
Please send a copy of your correspondence to all your local TDs and Senators and ask them to put pressure on the Minister to ban digging out and terrierwork. Encourage all your friends, family and workmates to contact their local politicians too.
Write to your TD at:
Dail Eireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 01-618 3000 or 1890 337 889.
Write to your Senator at:
Seanad Eireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 01-618 3000 or 1890 732 623.
Find out the names of your TDs and their email addresses
http://www.oireachtas.ie/members%2Dhist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=31&disp=const
http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=12684&&CatID=138
TDs vote to allow continuation of Ireland's worst cruelty
On March 27th 2013, 108 TDs voted against Animal Welfare Bill amendments that would have outlawed terrierwork and digging-out.
Renewed call on Simon Coveney to ban terrierwork
20 March 2013
ICABS is renewing its call on Agriculture Minister, Simon Coveney to ban the cruel practice of digging-out and terrierwork. Last July, Minister Coveney described digging out as "unacceptable" but has so far refused to act on this.
Please support our action alert now and join calls for a ban on this barbarity.
URGENT ACTION ALERT
Contact Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney now and demand a full ban on digging out and terrierwork.
Minister Simon Coveney
Department of Agriculture
Agriculture House,
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Email: minister@agriculture.gov.ie
CC: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie (An Taoiseach)
Tel: 01-607 2884 or LoCall 1890-200510.
Fax: 01-661 1013.
Dear Minister Coveney,
I support the Irish Council Against Blood Sports' call on you to ensure that digging out and terrier work are among the activities outlawed under the new Animal Health and Welfare Bill. These horrendous acts of cruelty are carried out by sadistic individuals and also by merciless foxhunting groups.
In July 2012, you expressed your view that digging out and terrierwork are 'unacceptable'. Please act on this and protect our wildlife from such shameful abuse.
Thank you. I look forward to your positive response.
Yours sincerely,
[Name/Location]
Minister Coveney says he won't outlaw terrierwork barbarity
27 November 2012
Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney, has stated that he will not outlaw the barbaric practice of digging out of foxes and the use of terriers to flush them out. At the committee stage of the Animal Health & Welfare Bill on Thursday last, November 22, amendments to remove the exemptions for hare coursing and fox hunting, put forward by Deputies Clare Daly and Maureen O’Sullivan, were voted down by the committee.
Minister Coveney tried to justify the barbarity of digging out foxes by referring to attacks on lambs. He said he had "spoken to many involved [presumably foxhunters and terriermen] to get a sense of what is happening on the ground" and that "the codes of conduct being implemented on a voluntary basis are fairly good."
"The question is whether we want to ensure that they will be legally enforceable," he added.
It’s hardly surprising that the hunters have told the Minister that their so-called code of conduct is working well and they are adhering to it. They have also clearly repeated to the Minister their ill-founded claims that foxes are a threat to sheep farming. ICABS has refuted this, pointing to lamb mortality statistics which show that fox predation is not a significant factor. The major causes of mortality are abortion/still-birth, exposure/starvation and disease.
A code that allows digging-out and the use of terriers to attack foxes should be firmly rejected by a Minister who insisted in May that he found such practices to be "unacceptable"
If Minister Coveney genuinely finds this indefensible animal cruelty unacceptable, there is only one course of action he must follow and that is to completely ban it.
URGENT ACTION ALERT
Contact Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney now and demand that a hunting/coursing exemption is removed from the Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012 and that a full ban on digging out and terrierwork is introduced.
Minister Simon Coveney
Department of Agriculture
Agriculture House,
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Email: minister@agriculture.gov.ie
CC: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie (An Taoiseach)
Tel: 01-607 2884 or LoCall 1890-200510.
Fax: 01-661 1013.
Dear Minister Coveney,
I support the Irish Council Against Blood Sports' call on you to ensure that digging out and terrier work are among the activities outlawed under the new Animal Health and Welfare Bill. These horrendous acts of cruelty are carried out by sadistic individuals and also by merciless foxhunting groups. There is absolutely no excuse for this shameful animal abuse.
I urge you to ensure that the new Bill makes it an offence to dig out any animal, an offence to send terriers or other dogs below ground to catch or attack animals under any circumstances and an offence to use a pack of hounds to harass, attack, injure and/or kill any animal. I also urge you to outlaw hare coursing.
Thank you. I look forward to your positive response.
Yours sincerely,
[Name/Location]
Contact all your local TDs now. Demand that they urgently help save foxes from cruelty and back a ban on hunting and digging out.
Find out the names of your TDs and their email addresses.
http://www.oireachtas.ie/members%2Dhist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=31&disp=const
http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/Members_emails/document1.htm
If you prefer to post a letter to your TDs, address your correspondence to:
Dail Eireann
Leinster House
Kildare Street
Dublin 2.
Call for outright ban on digging-out animals
08 November 2012
The Irish Council Against Blood Sports is urging Agriculture Minister, Simon Coveney, to introduce an outright ban on the digging out of animals gone to ground. The call follows comments made by Minister Coveney today during a Select Committee discussion on amendments to the new Animal Health and Welfare Bill.
The Minister indicated that he is considering a code of conduct for those engaged in the cruel practice which involves sending terriers underground to viciously attack foxes.
"We were very taken aback at your comments, during the committee session today," ICABS spokesperson Aideen Yourell stated in a letter to Minister Coveney. "The idea of a 'code of conduct' for an activity that is inherently and intrinsically cruel is nothing short of bizarre. Digging out a fox that is trying to save its life by going to ground during a hunt, and using terriers to flush the animal out, is cruel, by any basic standard of cruelty. It is inhumane on every level. It must not be allowed to continue under the new legislation."
We pointed to a foxhunting code of conduct introduced in 1999 following the release of a disturbing video showing the suffering caused to animals during digging-out and terrierwork. The video, filmed at a hunt in County Cork, shows a squealing fox being pulled from the ground with a terrier biting into its bleeding scalp.
That code's ‘Rules and Procedures for the Use of Hunt Terriers’ were completely and predictably worthless, given the fact that they do nothing to prevent any of the cruelty associated with digging out and terrierwork.
"Any further code of conduct will be similarly worthless," we told Minister Coveney. "It will not prevent the horrific suffering caused to foxes and dogs (photographs of which have been sent to Coveney). These people will not be controlled by a code of conduct. What is needed is a complete ban on these despicable activities and heavy penalties for those involved"
Earlier this year, the Agriculture Minister condemned digging out as "unacceptable". Speaking in the Seanad on 22 May during a Committee Stage debate on the Animal Health and Welfare Bill, he referred to "undue cruelty such as the digging out of animals when they have gone to ground, which is unacceptable." See video below.
Video: "Digging out is unacceptable" - Minister Simon Coveney
Video: Stop Digging Out Cruelty in Ireland
It's "not appropriate" to outlaw cruelty: Simon Coveney
09 November 2012
Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney has said it's "not appropriate" to outlaw some of Ireland's worst acts of cruelty to animals. The Fine Gael Minister made the comment during a Dail speech on the Animal Health and Welfare Bill. Please join us in urging Coveney to reconsider his shameful stance.
Speaking in the Seanad on September 20th, Minister Coveney stated: "It is not appropriate to simply outlaw hare coursing and hunting when they are pursued according to the codes of conduct drawn up by clubs. Considerable numbers of people are passionate about these pursuits and my job is to ensure that standards are met rather than simply outlawing practices."
The Minister has been reminded that the codes of conduct referred to do nothing to eliminate the cruelty.
URGENT ACTION ALERT
Tell Minister Coveney you are one of the considerable majority of Irish citizens who want hunting, coursing, terrierwork and digging-out banned and that it is very appropriate for him to ban cruelty in an "Animal Welfare" Bill.
Minister Simon Coveney
Department of Agriculture
Agriculture House,
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Email: Simon.Coveney@oireachtas.ie
Tel: 01-607 2884 or LoCall 1890-200510.
Fax: 01-661 1013.
Agriculture Minister condemns digging out as "unacceptable"
29 April 2012
ICABS is calling on Agriculture Minister, Simon Coveney, to introduce a ban on the digging out of animals. Our appeal follows a Seanad Eireann statement by the Minister in which he condemned the cruel practice as "unacceptable".
Speaking on 22 May during a Committee Stage debate on the Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012, Minister Coveney stated: "The measure applies only if there is undue cruelty such as the digging out of animals when they have gone to ground, which is unacceptable."
The digging out of foxes is carried out by what can only be described as thugs who use spades to uncover the creatures and then take pleasure in seeing their dogs inflicting the most savage of injuries.
Digging out and terrierwork also form a part of foxhunting in Ireland. The foxhunters' so-called code of conduct states that "digging shall only be conducted by a small number of experienced people and assistants appointed by the master or his nominee." Foxes chased to exhaustion during hunt outings try to find refuge underground but no mercy is shown. The hunt's sadistic terriermen are called in. They send terriers underground to hold the fox in place while the clay is shovelled away from above.
A former hunt follower who witnessed dig-out cruelty described it as "an evil act", adding that "no fox deserves to be killed in such a way."
Videos: Foxhunting Cruelty
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