Hares more plentiful in coursing areas

DESPITE claims to the contrary by anti-field sports organisations, hares are 18 times more plentiful in areas managed by the Irish Coursing Club (ICC) than at similar sites in the wider countryside, a recent study by Queen’s University Belfast has shown.

There are 80 or so coursing clubs in Ireland and each is associated with areas known as ‘hare preserves’. In such areas, the clubs ensure predator control and the maintenance of suitable hare habitat, and ban other forms of hunting.

Anti-field sports organisations, in addition to animal welfare objections, dispute the effectiveness of Irish Coursing Club (ICC) hare-population management practices and claim that annual harvesting of hares causes population declines.