Here’s hoping minister will reject requests to use hares as bait

Arts Minister Heather Humphreys rightly condemned the shooting of a peregrine falcon in Wexford, stating that it was “intolerable” for wildlife to be persecuted and that it “harmed our reputation as a country that values its wildlife”.

However, as the minister responsible for wildlife, she is presently considering the annual application from the hare coursers for a licence to net in the region of 5,500 hares (“protected” under the Wildlife Act) for use as live bait before greyhounds at 80 or so coursing meetings around the country.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, the Irish Council Against Blood Sports has accessed reports on hare coursing meetings for the 2013/14 season of cruelty, and they make for depressing reading ... with hares being mauled, injured and killed as they run for their lives in fear and terror.

For example, at Doon & District, four hares were struck by greyhounds and put down because of their injuries; at Dundalk and Dowdallshill, six hares struck, four put down; at Tradaree, 13 hares struck by dogs, three “found dead in the paddock” the next day; at Gorey, four hares hit, with two dying... the list goes on.

Hopefully Ms Humphreys will reject the coursers’ request for a licence to snatch hares from the wild for their cruel “sport” and that she and the government will follow the example of England Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, who have banned hare coursing, and demonstrate that Ireland is a country that truly values its wildlife.

Aideen Yourell

Irish Council Against Blood Sports

Greenpark Meadows, Mullingar

Co Westmeath