Stag hunting ‘ban’ as Gormley to refuse club licence

STAG hunting is effectively to be banned in Ireland, the Irish Examiner has learnt.

Green Environment Minister John Gormley is poised to refuse a licence for the Ward Union Hunt, which provoked outrage last January when it chased a stag into a Meath school playground as horrified children looked on.

The move, a de facto ban on the blood sport for the first time in Ireland, could come as early as today and is almost certain to provoke a legal challenge. However, it is understood Mr Gormley believes the school mayhem gives him sufficient grounds to act.

Terrified children were forced to cower in classrooms when a frightened stag pursued by a pack of snarling hounds burst through the playground of the Central National School, Kildalkey, as the pupils were leaving.

The stag leapt over a wall into the grounds of the primary school, located in the middle of the village, followed by baying dogs from the Ward Union Hunt.

“They were tearing the deer apart and this was all witnessed by the schoolchildren coming out of their classrooms. The parents who were waiting outside — we couldn’t believe what was happening,” said parent Judith Tonge at the time.

She said members of the hunt followed the animals into the school grounds, where the stag was bleeding heavily. Those children who had left the yard had to run some distance to their school bus, which was unable to park in its usual place in the village because of horses being ridden through the street by huntsmen.

The Ward Union Hunt, the country’s only active stag hunt, described the incident as “very unfortunate”, but insisted the stag was not bleeding and it was normal practice to release a stag then recapture it unhurt.

Mr Gormley’s strong stance against stag hunting is expected to deflect criticism from within the Green Party that hare coursing is to continue. The Department of the Environment issues licences to coursing clubs allowing them legally to net hares for the new season, which began at the weekend.