Coursing clubs make life easier for poachers

DJ Histon, of the Irish Coursing Club, paints a rosy picture of a ‘sport’ that is banned in Britain, Northern Ireland, and many other jurisdictions. 

He emphasises the supposed conservation work of coursing clubs, citing a study that claims hares are 18 times more plentiful in areas where clubs operate.

This is an absurd argument. It goes without saying that there would be more hares on sites where coursing clubs maintain a supply of the animals for baiting, just as far more pheasants would be found in areas where driven shoots are organised, because the shooters have a vested interest in having enough of them to shoot.

Aside from the fact that opposition to hare coursing is based on animal welfare, the preserves maintained by coursing clubs are more harmful than beneficial to the conservation of hares.

Poaching gangs who use lurchers to attack and kill hares have been wreaking havoc on the hare population. They set their dogs on hares wherever they encounter them, but the coursing club preserves create a perfect, if unintended, opportunity for these gangs: all they have to do is nip down to the nearest preserve to indulge their ‘sporting’ instincts.

Far from being friends of the hare, coursing clubs are unwittingly making life easier for the poachers by creating easy access for them.

If DJ Histon cares about the hare, he should change sides and support the campaign for an outright ban on live coursing in Ireland.

Joe Barry

“Rose Lawn”

Mooncoin

Co. Kilkenny