Anti-blood sports campaigners to protest at coursing meeting

ANTI-BLOOD sports campaigners are planning to mount protests at next month’s national coursing meeting in Clonmel for the first time in more than a decade.

Environment Minister John Gormley is likely to come under pressure as a result of the protest to take action against coursing following his Green Party’s pre-election commitment to ban all blood sports.

The picket will be placed on finals day, February 6, when the winners of the prize money for the coursing derby, oaks and other events will be decided.

A number of anti-cruelty bodies are planning th eaction, including the Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports and the Irish Council Against Blood Sports.

Protests at the national meeting in Clonmel’s Powerstown Park were once an annual occurrence, but the introduction of greyhound-muzzling in 1993 coincided with a tailing-off of picketing.

However, John Fitzgerald of the Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports said yesterday that muzzling did not mean an end to suffering for hares. “There’s a widespread perception among members of the public that cruelty has been eliminated from coursing. But there’s a lot of hidden cruelty involved in netting of hares,” he said.

Mr Fitzgerald said that if a hare gets a bang from a greyhound in full flight, it can cause broken bones and wounds that do not heal.

The national coursing meeting in Clonmel has traditionally drawn enthusiasts from all counties of Ireland, and beyond, providing a boost to the local economy. Last year, more than 12,000 attended finals day, including many from Northern Ireland and Britain, whose own events were hit by the recent British ban on hunting and coursing.

Responding to news of the planned protest, Irish Coursing Club chief executive Jerry Desmond said “it’s a free country” and that the club abided by all of the legislation covering animal welfare, the greyhound industry, and the licensing of hare capture. He hoped that the protesters would “stay within the law”.

The Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports is calling on Mr Gormley to re-examine the issue of hare coursing and wants drag coursing to be introduced in this country, as it was in Australia some decades ago.

Published Green Party policy pledges that, “when in government, the Green Party will introduce legislation to end blood sports”. Its policy on animal welfare also “encourages the alternatives of drag hunting and drag coursing”.

Mr Gormley issued a licence to the Irish Coursing Club last September for the capture of hares for the current September-February coursing season.

At the time, he warned clubs that he would be strictly monitoring their adherence to the licence conditions.

* www.irishcoursingclub.ie

* www.banbloodsports.com