TDs condemn Clonmel coursing cruelty

TDs condemn Clonmel coursing cruelty
07 February 2013

TDs Maureen O'Sullivan and Clare Daly have condemned the animal cruelty involved in Clonmel's coursing festival. In a joint-statement, they highlighted the suffering caused by the netting and coursing of hares and the illegal practice of blooding.

The statement, headed "National Hare Coursing Meeting a National Event of Animal Cruelty" emphasised the cruelty involved in netting hares from the wild for use as live lures.

It added: "Cruel techniques are also used to train the hares to run in straight lines on the field. Furthermore the use of weak hares for the practice of ‘blooding’ although illegal still continues today. Hare coursing is dangerous for hare and dog alike, leading to injuries which cause long term suffering, and which circulates and contributes to a negative cultural attitude towards animals and their wellbeing."

ICABS thanks Maureen O'Sullivan (Independent, Dublin Central) and Clare Daly (United Left Alliance, Dublin North) for their ongoing support of the campaign against bloodsports.

Clare Daly TD with a greyhound alongside fellow anti-coursing protestors outside Dail Eireann. February 1st, 2013. Thank you to everyone who attended this protest and the protest outside Powerstown Park in Clonmel.

A hare runs for its life at the Clonmel coursing cruelty festival (Irish Times front page)

URGENT ACTION ALERTS

Please sign our Petition: Mayor Shoer: Animal Cruelty is NOT "Splendid"

Express your support for a ban on coursing: Sign a petition

Urgently contact An Taoiseach Enda Kenny and An Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore. Ask them to back a ban on hare coursing and give permanent protection to hares.

An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny
Department of the Taoiseach,
Government Buildings,
Upper Merrion Street,
Dublin 2
Telephone: 01-6194020
Fax: 01-6764048
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie

An Tanaiste, Eamon Gilmore
Office of the Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade,
Iveagh House,
80 St. Stephen’s Green,
Dublin 2.
Tel: 01 6183566 (Dail)
Tel: 01 408 2000 (Iveagh House)
Fax: 01 408 2400
Email: eamon.gilmore@oireachtas.ie

Appeal to the Minister for Agriculture

Please appeal to the Minister for Agriculture to remove an exemption for coursing from the new Animal Health and Welfare Bill.

Simon Coveney, TD
Minister for Agriculture
Department of Agriculture
Agriculture House,
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

Email: minister@agriculture.gov.ie
Tel: 01-607 2884 or LoCall 1890-200510.
Fax: 01-661 1013.

Appeal to the Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs

Please write to the Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs and demand that he stops licensing hare coursing.

Jimmy Deenihan, TD
Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs
Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht
23 Kildare Street
Dublin 2

Email: ministersoffice@tcs.gov.ie [with a copy to An Taoiseach]
Tel: (01) 631 3802
Fax: (01) 661 1201

Contact all your local TDs now. Tell them you are one of the majority who want coursing banned. Remind them that coursing is already illegal in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. Urge them to respect the wishes of the majority of the electorate and back the anti-coursing bill being introduced by Maureen O'Sullivan, TD and Clare Daly, TD.

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:
Dáil Éireann
Leinster House
Kildare Street
Dublin 2.

Campaign Videos: Coursing cruelty in Ireland

More ICABS Videos

On-The-Line: Cradle to Grave (BBC, 1993)
Part 1 | Part 2
BBC documentary exposing the cruelty of the greyhound industry, including the illegal practice of blooding. Quotes from programme: "It's widely known that if you give a dog a live animal to kill, on occasion I've heard of cats being used - this makes the dog more keener and makes it perform better. It's because they've had the taste of blood...The use of live bait - in this case rabbits - is against the law in Ireland and the UK. Blooding is, in fact, an imprisonable offence. Nevertheless, blooding is a common training technique and in rural areas in Ireland, the use of live lures is an open secret."

See more videos exposing the cruelty of coursing on our Youtube Channel - www.youtube.com/icabs

Slideshow: the cruelty of hare coursing in Ireland

The victims of coursing

All hares used in coursing are victims and they all suffer the fear and stress of being violently snatched from their habitats, thrown into crates, transported to coursing compounds and kept in captivity for months. Among the hare injuries and deaths recorded are:

A hare "squealing in distress" after being caught by a muzzled dog

A hare suffering with "a badly broken hind leg"

A hare "carrying a hind leg"

A hare with "a damaged hind toe"

A coursed hare with a "badly broken hind leg [which] seemed to be in great distress"

A hare in agony in a coursing enclosure with its leg "almost completely broken off".

A hare destroyed by a vet after it was found suffering with a dislocated hip

A hare that died "from knocks sustained during coursing"

A hare released back into the wild with a "damaged leg" that "could be broken"

A hare found dead in a coursing compound after succumbing to pneumonia.

A vet treated three hares for "minor abrasions" and "witnessed three other hares that appeared to die after coursing without any outward signs of injury. One of these was sent to the local regional veterinary laboratory. Post-mortem findings included internal adhesions, suggestive of an old condition."

Seven hares badly hit by greyhounds, with three dying as a result of the injuries.

An injured hare with "marks on its back and bare areas".

Two hares found dead in a coursing club paddock. An autopsy showed that one died from well established pneumonia while the other died from so-called "natural causes". Another died "during transportation from Loughrea to Westport."

13 hares hit by dogs and 1 put down because of injuries and 3 died from injuries. Veterinary opinion was that they died "from knocks sustained during coursing the previous day."

More information about hare coursing

Coursing: 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.