Time for the curtain to come down on coursing

IT was horrifying to see an actual veterinary surgeon defending cruel coursing (Letters, October 6). Tommy Kearney’s claim that coursers “hold the welfare of the Irish hare very close to their hearts” is just plain wrong.

Veterinary Ireland clearly defines welfare as “a state of well-being in which an animal ... is not subjected to unnecessary pain, fear or suffering”. In coursing, hares are subjected to all three.

Over the years, the Irish Council Against Blood Sports has uncovered just some of this suffering: hares squealing in distress after being caught by muzzled dogs, pregnant hares forced to run for their lives, a hare with a fractured femur and another in agony with its leg “almost completely broken off”.

When I attended a meeting at Glin some years ago, I was immediately struck by the sickening scenes of suffering. I saw a hare pummelled into the ground and another hit so hard that it was certainly left with broken bones.

There is no justification whatsoever for subjecting animals to this abuse. The time has come for the curtain to come down on coursing.

Philip Kiernan

Irish Council Against Blood Sports

PO Box 88

Mullingar,

Co Westmeath