Campaigners stage protest and ask Minister to refuse licences to capture wild hares for use in coursing

Campaigners from The Irish Council Against Blood Sports and their supporters today demanded that Minister Darragh O’Brien TD, refuse to issue licenses that would allow coursers to capture Irish hares from the wild and use them as bait for greyhounds at coursing sessions across the country this winter.

A colourful protest was organised outside Government Buildings in Kildare Street in opposition to hare coursing which organisers call ‘barbaric’, and which 77% of the Irish population want banned according to a recent Red C poll.

In the coming days, Heritage Minister Darragh O’Brien, who is on record as being opposed to hare coursing, will decide whether to grant or refuse licences permitting coursers to snatch thousands of Irish hares from the wild for use as live bait for greyhounds this season.

Hares caught in the coursers’ nets may be pregnant or lactating females, whose vulnerable young will be left alone in the wild to die.

Indeed, NPWS rangers have on occasions discovered new-born leverets in coursing compounds.

77% of Irish citizens want hare coursing banned (with just 9% disagreeing with a ban) according to a Red C poll carried out on behalf of the Irish Council Against Blood Sports, yet our legislators run scared of the minority of hare coursers, with only a small number of TDs in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, who support blood sports, vehemently opposing a ban, while the rest seemingly acquiesce to their demands.

Ireland, like rest of the world, is facing an unprecedented biodiversity crisis, with wildlife habitat loss due to modern farming methods and climate change.

In fact, there has been a continuing decline in the number of hares captured by coursers in Ireland over the last ten years.

In 2012/13, the coursers snatched 5,676 hares from the wild for coursing, while ten years later, 2022/23, the number caught was 3,342, a drop of 41%, suggesting a decline in hare populations across Ireland. This should set alarm bells ringing in the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Spokesperson for the Irish Council Against Blood Sports, Aideen Yurell, said in advance of today’s protest:

“If the Minister and the NPWS are serious about tackling biodiversity loss, they must at the very least move to properly protect all wildlife, including our unique Irish Hare.

“No licences for capturing hares should be issued in order to stop persecution by hunters, shooters and coursers.

“The Minister must face down the bullying hare coursers and refuse the hare capture licence”.

The coursing season runs from the end of September to the end of February.

Hares captured form the wild are likely to spend several months in coursing compounds while they await a gruelling ordeal as bait for greyhounds during coursing sessions.

Although the hounds are muzzled, hares continue to be injured or killed, and all suffer severe levels of distress.