Newbridge TD Daly questions Minister Ring over alleged killing of 78 hares in Laois
TD Clare Daly has raised the issue of hare coursing in the Dáil after it was alleged that almost 80 animals were killed by three dogs at a compound in Laois two weeks ago.
The National Parks & Wildlife Service are investigating a report that up to 78 hares were attacked and killed by three dogs at coursing compound in Rathdowney, Co. Laois. This massacre is said to have happened on Saturday, November 19, and it is also reported that the three dogs were shot following the incident.
At the time, the Rathdowney coursers would have had in the region of 70 - 80 hares in captivity in the compound, to be used as live lures for greyhounds at a coursing meeting on December 10/11. This meeting has now been deferred to January, according to the Irish Coursing Club's website.
Clare Daly TD questioned Minister Michael Ring, Department of Arts & Heritage, in the Dail on Tuesday about this reported incident, and called for an investigation by the Wildlife Service. Licences to net hares from the wild are issued to the coursers by the National Parks & Wildlife Service, acting for Minister Heather Humphreys. Clare Daly called for Rathdowney coursing club to be disqualified from holding a meeting in January, if this report of 78 hares massacred in their compound proved to be correct.
"The Irish Council Against Blood Sports is utterly outraged and horrified by the possibility that so many hares could have been killed by dogs able to access the coursing compound at Rathdowney. This again points up the vulnerability of these timid wild animals kept in captivity, with no means of escape from predators, and it's yet another reason, if one were needed, to finally outlaw hare coursing. Last June 114 TDs turned a blind eye to the indefensible cruelty of hare coursing and voted against Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan's Private Members Bill to ban this despicable practice," read a statement from the organisation.
"As for the callous shooting of the dogs after they killed the hares (if this happened), we see this as a cruel and utterly vindictive response. The responsibility for this clearly lies with the dogs' owners, the coursers for failing to protect the hares in their compound, and ultimately, Minister Heather Humphreys who continues to licence the capture of these timid, defenceless animals."