Protest against 3-Day National Hare Coursing Festival of Cruelty

national | animal rights | press release

Monday January 02, 2012 23:13

by Ban Hare Coursing in Ireland - CACS and AOHS

Striking a blow for the gentle and musch persecuted Irish Hare

Protest against vile 3-day “National Hare Coursing” event. Location: The Department of Agriculture, Kildare Street, Dublin. Date: January 30th 2012. Time: 1 pm to 2 pm.

Hares in their natural habitat...before a twisted coursing club reaches them

To coincide with the opening day of the three-day so-called “National Coursing Festival” in Clonmel County Tipperary on Januray 30th, the Association of Hunt Saboteurs (AOHS) and the Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports (CACS) will jointly organise a peaceful one hour protest outside the Department of Agriculture in Dublin. The National Coursing event is the culmination of the hare coursing season, the “All-Ireland Finals” of this barbaric and utterly discredited blood sport in which hares and dogs alike are exposed to the risk of serious injury or death. The fun consists of forcing hares to run from pairs of hyped-up dogs on part of a race course that is adapted annually to accomadate this terror-fest. Last year, a normally pro-coursing leading vet slammed the appalling treatment of greyhounds in Clonmel, where a number sustained injuries, as well as attacking the use of weak hares. More recently, FOI reports revealed that hares were mauled or otherwise horribly injured at coursing events nationwide over the past two years. We chose the venue for our protest this year for a specific reason: Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney will shortly be introducing the long promised animal welfare bill. Though he has pledged that the bill will address many animal protection issues, we are concerned at the government’s refusal to say whether hare coursing will be one of them. We suspect that hare coursing will once again be exempted from our animal cruelty laws. This has happened in the past in response to lobbying from powerful, lavishly financed pro-animal baiting groups. We welcome members of the public and anyone concerned about ill-treatment of animals to join our protest on January 30th. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D58qbzC-GI4&feature=play...edded Please join us on the day and say NO to organised animal cruelty dressed up as “sport”! For further info, contact AOHS at 087-2651720 or CACS at 086-3271179 Note: Protest runs from 1pm to 2 pm at Dept of Agriculture building, Kildare Street, Dublin, on Monday January 30th

Three days of this planned for Clonmel..."sport" to the fans.