Posted by John Fitzgerald
on 7/26/2009, 8:24 am
86.46.121.160
Callan,
Co. Kilkenny,
Ireland.
Re. Ban Hare Coursing Website
(www.myspace.com/banharecoursingireland)
Dear Friends,
I wonder if you would consider adding a link to my Ban Hare Coursing website, which highlights the barbarity of the blood sport of live hare coursing in Ireland, the campaign to have hares (better known as jack rabbits in North America) protected from this cruelty, and my book that promotes this campaign in addition to encouraging animal protection campaigners worldwide in their own endeavours.
Hare coursing, as practised in Ireland, is one of the most barbaric forms of recreational animal cruelty ever devised by man for his amusement. It consists of capturing hares in the countryside, confining them in unnatural captivity, and then forcing them to run for their lives from pairs of competing greyhounds.
The “sport” takes place within the confines of a large wired enclosure, with each hare in turn being set loose from a little box in which it has been conveyed to the coursing venue, and two greyhounds unleashed to pursue it. Many hares are struck, mauled, or literally tossed into the air by the dogs, sustaining severe and painful injuries in the process. Other hares are killed outright when struck forcibly by the dogs.
Those that manage to escape through the only exit from the enclosure (located at the opposite end of the venue from the hare’s starting point) have still been subjected to the terror of the ordeal and may never recover from the experience of captivity and handling by humans.
More than 10,000 hares are captured annually in Ireland for use in these public animal-baiting sessions.
All animal protection groups in Ireland are opposed to hare coursing and favour its abolition, as does the majority of the population of Ireland. But a small powerful elite has ensured that it has, up to now, remained a legal “sport”.
However, Ireland’s Green Party, which is opposed to hare coursing and believes it ought to be banned, is currently one of the two political parties that form Ireland’s Coalition Government, the other being a party whose members are divided between supporting and opposing the blood sport.
On my website I provide details on how to contact and lobby our country’s Environment Minister, who happens to be a Green Party member of parliament, with a view to persuading him to act on hare coursing. A brief video clip shows exactly what happens at a typical hare-coursing event.
I have been involved in the campaign to ban hare coursing for more than thirty years with the Irish Council Against Blood Sports (ICABS) and the Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports (CACS) and I like to think that my website may contribute further to the campaign.
I would appreciate very much if you would consider adding a link on your own site or blog (I’m also on Facebook) to mine, or alternatively, if you could copy and re-post my own blog to anyone you wish. My website is at www.myspace.com/banharecoursingireland
I also provide details on the website about my book Bad Hare Days, about which I have contacted animal protection groups previously. As there are many books out there that promote and glamorise animal baiting and the various forms of hunting, I would like to see this one find its way to a wider public to redress that imbalance and assist the movement in favour of protecting wildlife and animals generally.
I would therefore be obliged if you would consider asking your local public library to acquire a copy of Bad Hare Days (Olympia Publishers, London). Having it available from libraries would ensure that its message reached people outside the animal protection community.
I realise that you will have many other pressing commitments of your own but am hopeful that you may be able to add the website link, and of course, if you wish, I will reciprocate and link to your own website.
Thanking you for your kind attention,
Sincerely,
John Fitzgerald
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