An Irish Council Against Blood Sports Newsletter. July 2009

For more campaign news, updates and action alerts, please visit our websites:www.banbloodsports.com,www.youtube.com/icabs,www.myspace.com/banbloodsports, www.bebo.com/banbloodsports,www.twitter.com/banbloodsports

01. URGENT APPEAL - Coursing Licence Being Considered

Dear Supporter,At present, Minister for the Environment, John Gormley and his National Parks & WildlifeService are preparing to grant another licence to the Irish Coursing Club to capture haresfrom the wild for the next hare coursing season. We beg you to pull out all the stops andwrite, email or phone the Minister (details below), asking him not to grant this licence.

Every coursing season, hares continue to be injured and killed by greyhounds at coursing meetingsand last year was no exception, as reports obtained by ICABS under the Freedom of Information Actrevealed.For example, at Enniscorthy - 7 hares were mauled by dogs, with six dying of their injuries;Ballyheighue, Co. Kerry - 6 hares hit and 4 killed; Gorey - 11 hares hit, 7 injured and 5 put downbecause of injuries; Doon - 11 hares hit, 4 died from injuries, and so the catalogue of crueltycontinues, year on year, as we approach 2010 in a so-called civilised country!Please, please lend your voice to our campaign, and help us stop this appalling cruelty. ContactMinister John Gormley's Dublin office on 01-8882403, email minister@environ.ie or write to JohnGormley, Minister for the Environment, Department of the Environment, Custom House, Dublin 1.Thank you so much. Yours sincerely

Aideen Yourell, Campaign Director Irish Council Against Blood Sports

02. Peaceful protest: Let's stop the coursing licence

The Irish Council Against Blood Sports will join Animal Rights Action Network for a peacefuldemonstration against the licensing of hare coursing by Green Party leader and EnvironmentMinister, John Gormley.

The demo will take place outside the Customs House in Dublin where Minister Gormley's office islocated. Please make every effort to be there on the day to show your support for an end to bloodsports licences.

Date:

Thursday August 13, 2009.

Time:

12 noon Sharp - 2pm

Place:

Department of Environment, Custom House

Contact:

John Carmody 0872391646 / arancampaigns@eircom.net / www.ARAN.ie

Please forward the demonstration details to all your friends and contacts and ask them tosupport this important event.

03. Videos: Ask Minister Gormley to stop licensing cruelty

Urge Green Party leader to stop licensing cruelty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=645KI4pbb3k

Ban Coursing in Ireland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D58qbzC-GI4

Urge Ireland's Green party to ban blood sports

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A13qjr-C_EI

Videos may also be viewed fromwww.youtube.com/banbloodsports

04. Action alert poster: Minister - Stop Licensing Coursing

Please download, display and distribute our new Action Alert Poster aimed at persuading IrishGreen Party leader and Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, to stop licensing thecruel blood sport of hare coursing.

We would be grateful if you could print this poster and display it at your local music venues, youthclubs, animal welfare stands, veterinary surgery waiting areas, etc. Thank you.

View poster:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/17606111

Download poster:

http://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/files/2009/07/ask-gormley-to-stop-licensing-coursing.pdf (pdf, 560 Kb)

ACTION ALERTPlease ask Minister John Gormley (Green Party) to stop licensing coursing.

Email "STOP LICENSING CRUEL HARE COURSING" to minister@environ.ie (with a copy toinfo@greenparty.ie) or write to Minister John Gormley, Department of the Environment, CustomHouse, Dublin 1. Tel: 01 888 2403. Fax: 01 878 8640.SAMPLE LETTER(If you have time, please compose your own personal letter. Otherwise, feel free to send the shortsample letter below. Be assertive, but polite, in all correspondence. Thank you.)Dear Minister GormleyI am one of the majority opposed to the cruel blood sport of hare coursing.I am appalled that as leader of the Green Party, you have issued licences for this animal cruelty inrecent years. As you are aware, hares suffer from the moment they are snatched from the wild innets, during their time in captivity and while they are being chased by the greyhounds. When hit, theysuffer agonising life-threatening injuries, including broken bones. The cruelty of coursing is clear tosee at www.youtube.com/watch?v=D58qbzC-GI4How can you possibly justify keeping this blood sport alive by licensing it? I strongly urge you toREFUSE a licence to the coursers for the 2009-10 season and to put in place permanent protectionfor this most timid and treasured of species. It is contrary to Green Party principles to facilitate animalcruelty.Yours sincerely,[Your name and location]

05. Aer Lingus thanked for removing matador image

The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has thanked Aer Lingus for removing an image of amatador from the homepage of its website. The image appeared as part of a graphicpromoting flights to Europe.

Responding to our appeal for the graphic to be amended , a company spokesperson stated: "Thankyou for bringing this matter to my attention. The image you refer to appears on the USA home pageas a thumbnail image and as requested will be removed, as soon as possible. We regret any offencethis may have caused."ICABS is very happy with Aer Lingus's swift response. The removal of the matador will decrease thechances of tourists contemplating visiting a bullring after booking a flight.In our appeal to the national airline, ICABS highlighted the animal cruelty involved in bullfighting andthe upset caused to tourists when they witness the horrendous spectacle.

Please make a donation to ICABS

The Irish Council Against Blood Sports relies entirely on your generosity to continue our campaigning for an end to blood sport cruelty. Please become a supporter of our work today -click on "Shop" at www.banbloodsports.com for more details or send a cheque for 10/20/50Euro, or whatever you can afford, to ICABS, PO Box 88, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, Ireland.Thank you very much.

06. Gerry Ryan criticised over upbeat bullrun coverage

ICABS has lodged a complaint with RTE over a 20 minute Pamplona feature on the Gerry Ryanshow which "effectively amounted to a promotion of an activity involving appalling animalcruelty". During an interview with an RTE employee who said he fulfilled a lifelong ambition bypartaking in the bullrun, Gerry described the San Fermin festival as "just fantastic". He alsoclaimed that "a lot of women find it hard to understand and a lot of men find it hard to resist."

In an email to the radio show, ICABS stated: "Your description of the San Fermin festival as 'justfantastic' is unlikely to be shared by participants lured to Pamplona by romanticised media portrayalsbut who find themselves being carried away paralysed, with serious lifelong injuries or dead. A BBCNews correspondent captured one such incident as follows: 'The fighting bull which gored [the victim]weighed half a tonne. It hit him in the abdomen, severed a main artery, sliced through his kidney andpunctured his liver, before tossing him seven metres in the air...he died in hospital of massive bloodloss.'""We found the upbeat and light-hearted treatment of this controversial subject to be particularlyinappropriate given the fact that another man lost his life at this year's bullrun. This individual is justthe latest in a long line of casualties and fatalities."Gerry Ryan announced that the account given by RTE's Dermot Rigley had provided "a fairly clear image of what's involved" at Pamplona but, in fact, there wasn't much clarity for listeners as regardsthe integral animal suffering.There was no mention, for example, of the way bulls are frightened into stampeding through thestreets with the use of electric shock prods and sharpened sticks or that they may slip to the groundand sustain painful cuts and bruises and sometimes broken bones.