Coursing worse than circuses

I welcome entertainment manager, Louis Walsh’s appeal to the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creedon, to ban the exploitation of wild animals in circuses. The animals are forced to engage in humiliating tricks and stunts, and are ill-treated when they fail to respond to training.

But if we ban wild-animal circuses, we must also be consistent, and outlaw hare-coursing, a far worse abuse of wild animals for entertainment. The hares are snatched from their natural environment, held in unnatural captivity for weeks, and then forced to run from pairs of hyped-up dogs.

Though muzzled, the greyhound can strike the hares at high speed, inflicting painful injuries. They can also maul the terrified creatures and break their bones, resulting in the hares having to be ‘dispatched’ by coursing officials.