Coursing club conviction

The recent conviction of a coursing club of trapping hares without a license serves as yet another reminder that our hare population is threatened by a practise that involves netting and baiting these gentle creatures for “sport”.

The recent conviction of a coursing club of trapping hares without a license serves as yet another reminder that our hare population is threatened by a practise that involves netting and baiting these gentle creatures for “sport”.

It is not long since another coursing club was fined for similar breaches of the Wildlife Act involving hares and a number of other prosecutions for illegal netting are in the pipeline.

Apart from such obvious breaches of the rules governing hare coursing, there is absolutely no excuse for this barbaric cruelty. It is not a form of pest control- the hare is utterly harmless- and the sport has no conservation value whatsoever. Its sole purpose is to entertain at the expense of extreme and unnecessary animal suffering.

While opposition to hare coursing is based mainly on animal welfare concerns, there is another reason why this practise should be outlawed immediately. The Parks and Wildlife Service and Ireland's Red Data Book on wildlife both warn that the Irish hare is now an endangered species.

It was the proven scarcity of hares in Northern Ireland that prompted the authorities up there to suspend all coursing activities two years ago.

As hare density is uniform throughout the island-the border being totally irrelevant in this instance- it is reasonable to expect our own incoming Minister for the Environment to enact a Hare Preservation Order similar to that in force up north.

Only then will the humble hare be afforded the protection it deserves as a part of precious wildlife heritage.