Damning new film footage proves Ireland's hare coursing as cruel as ever!

The dramatic new video footage (links below) proves that hare coursing continues to be a despicably cruel practice despite assurances from Heritage Minister Heather Humphries that the “sport” is well regulated and that hares come to no harm due to muzzling of greyhounds and stringent monitoring of fixtures.

Animal welfare campaigners have in the past week bravely defied the strict ban on “unauthorized photography” that coursing clubs impose at all fixtures. No mean achievement, considering that activists have been assaulted and ejected from fixtures when spotted filming or taking stills of the "action".

On Saturday, October 29th, at Ballinagar, Co Offaly, Irish Council Against Blood Sports (ICABS) members filmed a hare being viciously mauled...something that Minister Humphries says no longer happens at coursing events in Ireland.

The unfortunate creature was chased, hit and sent tumbling head over heals before its body was pinned to the ground. The hare repeatedly tried to get free from the greyhounds but was held in place and sustained a prolonged battering.

The hare eventually ran into the so-called "escape" but is very likely to have suffered serious internal injuries.

Here is the footage from Ballinagar coursing event:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNZUkbhXLSI

This latest mauling comes just days after a similar incident was filmed at Loughray coursing in County Galway. A hare was pinned and mauled before its battered body was slowly carried off the field.

Here is the Loughray Coursing event footage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVNxhz9FirI

In rejecting Deputy Maureen O’ Sullivan’s Bill to abolish hare coursing in June, Minister Humphries pleaded that there was no need for a ban because coursing hares were well treated. This footage tells a different story. It proves that regulating hare coursing is impossible and only an outright ban will end this abuse of our iconic Irish Hare, a mammal that survived the last Ice Age only to be used as live bait in a cruel and stupid blood sport.

Animal protection groups have sent the latest film footage to all TDs, appealing to them to support the abolition of hare cousing, in line with the many jurisdictions that have outlawed the bloodsport, including Britain and Northern Ireland.