Drag coursing the better of two evils
The Association of Hunt Saboteurs call upon Mr O'Donoghue to take on board that the vast majority of Irish people (80% when last independently surveyed), want a total ban on the use of live hares for coursing.
So drag coursing (where a mechanical lure is used instead of a live hare) may be "unpopular" amongst the tiny diehard minority who engage in this barbaric and outdated animal abuse, but it most certainly would be very popular with the Irish public.
It was surprising that Mr O'Donoghue, a greyhound racing enthusiast himself, would swallow the claim from the coursers that greyhounds would not follow a drag.
If he took the time to investigate this issue further he would find that video evidence is available showing greyhounds enthusiastically following a drag lure.
In Australia and the US, where the use of live hares is banned, drag coursing is very successful.
At hare coursing meetings all over Ireland, hares are still capable of being pinned down, injured and killed by muzzled dogs.
Mr O'Donoghue and his department may attempt to salve their consciences by stating that hare kills have been reduced due to muzzling.
But what they fail or seemingly don't want to take on board is the fact that hare coursing is an inherently and intrinsically cruel sport which involves the snatching of hares from the wild in nets and terrorising them on coursing fields for unnecessary and thoroughly gratuitous purposes the "entertainment" of a tiny minority.
The fact that hare coursing has recently been banned in Northern Ireland shows how out of touch political thinking in the South is on the treatment of our natural heritage. A ban on all forms of hare coursing is long overdue.
By refusing to embrace the drag, hare coursing followers are signing their own grubby copy of the death warrant of an activity that befouls our society.
John Tierney
Campaigns director
Association of Hunt Saboteurs
PO Box 4734
Dublin 1
