Coursing clubs should send dogs after something that doesn’t take fright

THE Irish Coursing Club (ICC) has offered a reward of €20,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever caused a particular hare to be ill-treated in an incident caught on film by two Swedish students who attended the national coursing meeting in Clonmel last February.

While commending any initiative that advances the cause of animal welfare, I cannot help reflecting that such proactive concern and compassion for the plight of Irish hares used in coursing on the part of the pro-bloodsports lobby has not been more evident in the past.

To the best of my knowledge, no coursing club has ever previously offered a reward in relation to any one of the many thousands of hares that have been terrorised, injured or killed at coursing events over the decades.

Still, I welcome this new-found solicitude for the gentle and inoffensive hare in the higher echelons of the politically well-connected coursing fraternity. Can I suggest the ICC might take the next logical humane step and consider replacing the live hare with a mechanical lure, with the aim of eliminating all cruelty to hares from coursing?

This would have the merit of sparing these innocent and attractive creatures the ordeal of having to run for their lives from hyped-up greyhounds in a “sport” most other countries that once permitted it have now banned. It would also, I suggest, enhance the image of our embattled greyhound industry, which can surely do without having the spectre of obscene and avoidable cruelty hanging over it.

John Fitzgerald

Callan

Co Kilkenny