Cruelty of hare coursing ramped up at Christmas

Christmas is less than a month away and, as always at this time of year, Ireland’s hare population is being harassed to the nth degree by coursing clubs whose idea of fun is to set up these gentle creatures as bait for pairs of hyped-up greyhounds.

I have seen these so-called ‘sportspeople’ in action in recent days. Fans cheered or marked their cards as the hares swerved and dodged in desperation to avoid their pursuers. They ran through wind-swept and water-logged fields, splashing their way in all directions as the muzzled but deeply frustrated and aggressive dogs sought to catch them.

Unable to sink their teeth into the soft brown fur, the hounds had to be content with forcibly striking the hares, pinning them to the soggy ground, mauling them, or tossing them into the air like broken toys.

And the fans never stopped cheering and laughing, decked out in their comfy winter gear, insulated from the rain and high winds, some of them sipping from whiskey flasks.

I have been observing coursing events for more than 30 years and still can’t fathom why a certain type of human being gets a thrill from watching this act of organised animal cruelty.

Even more depressing than this stomach churning addiction to animal suffering that some call ‘sport’ is the fact that so many politicians won’t take a stand against it.

True, they might lose a few votes in constituencies where hare coursing is entrenched, but does doing the right thing count for anything with them?

A few days ago, Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, responding to a Dáil question on the issue, said he had “no plans to ban hare coursing” and went on to repeat the government’s official position that the ‘sport’ is “well regulated”, and that the organisers do everything within their power to ensure animal welfare is catered for.

His words struck me as purely political whitewashing, devoid of any real meaning and completely divorced from reality. His ‘assurances’ rang especially hollow with me last weekend as I watched a hare doing a triple somersault after a greyhound sent it hurtling skyward, its progress followed by 50 or more pairs of gaping eyes.

The hare’s cry of anguish has been compared to that of the mythical banshee. If only it could double up as a cry heard by all against the political cowardice that keeps hare coursing alive in Ireland and the need felt by some human beings to make animals suffer for ‘sport’.

John Fitzgerald

Campaign for the Abolition Of Cruel Sports

Callan, Co Kilkenny