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ANIMAL VOICE
Newsletter of the Irish Council Against Blood Sports Issue 10, 2009
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The fate of thousands of hares will be decided by one man. Will Green Party leader,John Gormley, finally stand up to the coursers and protect this precious species?
Urgent Action Alert
Demand an end to coursing licences
Greek Greens Appeal
Ecogreens in appeal to Irish Greens
COURSING CLUBSARE STRUGGLING
Downward trend revealed
ALSO INSIDE: Dublin protest against coursing. Bad Hare Days review.Coursing dogs dumped on beach. TD vows to continue Tony Gregory’s work
HELPHARES! Please join oururgent appeal to EnvironmentMinister, John Gormley, torefuse a further licence to theIrish Coursing Club.
The licence - granted by theGreen Party leader for the pasttwo years - permits coursingclubs to snatch in the region of7,000 hares from the wild.The hares are used as livelures for greyhounds at coursingmeetings around the country dur-ing the coursing season whichnormally begins at the beginningof October.Every season, hares continueto be injured and killed by grey-hounds at coursing meetings andlast year was no exception, asreports obtained by ICABS underFreedom of Information showed.For example, at Enniscorthy - 7hares were mauled by dogs, withsix dying of their injuries;Ballyheighue, Co. Kerry - 6 hareshit and 4 killed; Gorey - 11 hareshit, 7 injured and 5 put downbecause of injuries; Doon - 11hares hit, 4 died from injuries.And so the catalogue of crueltycontinues, year on year, as weapproach 2010 in a so-calledcivilised country!Not only that, but hare numbersare in decline in the wild, andMinister Gormley is well aware ofthis problem. Only last year, hehimself issued a report on theStatus of EU Protected Habitatsand Species in Ireland, whichrated the conservation status ofthe Irish hare as 'POOR', withreasons given as loss of habitat,increased urbanisation and hunt-ing.This decline continues, as arecent survey published inNorthern Ireland shows, and inresponse to that decline, all harehunting across the border hasbeen suspended for the last fiveyears, while down south ourGreen Minister turns a blind eyeto the problem, and allows ourprecious hare population to berecklessly exploited by the cours-ers and other assorted harehunters.It's time for Minister JohnGormley to live up to his Greencredentials and move to give thehare the protection it so desper-ately needs.He should stand up toTaoiseach Brian Cowen and hispro-coursing Fianna Fail buddiesand call time on this barbarism.
Please ask Minister Gormleyto stop licensing hare cours-ing. Email "STOPLICENSINGCRUELHARE COURSING" tominister@environ.ie with acopy to info@greenparty.ie.Tel: 01-8882403. Fax: 01-8788640. Alternatively, sendthe sample letter below toMinister John Gormley, Deptof the Environment, CustomHouse, Dublin 1, Ireland.
Dear Minister Gormley:
I amone of the majority opposed tothe cruel blood sport of harecoursing.I am appalled that as leader ofthe Green Party, you haveissued licences for this animalcruelty in recent years. As youare aware, hares suffer from themoment they are snatched fromthe wild in nets, during their timein captivity and while they arebeing chased by the grey-hounds. When hit, they sufferagonising life-threatening injur-ies, including broken bones.How can you possibly justifykeeping this blood sport alive bylicensing it? I strongly urge youto REFUSE a licence to thecoursers for the 2009-10 sea-son and to put in place perma-nent protection for this mosttimid and treasured of species.It is contrary to Green Partyprinciples to facilitate animalcruelty.Yours sincerely,[Your name and location]
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ACTION ALERT
Don’t license animal cruelty:Join appeal to Green Partyleader, John Gormley.
Minister Gormley: Stoplicensing hare coursing
THE ANIMALRights Group ofthe Green Party of Greece -Ecogreens - has made a directappeal to the Irish Green Partyleader to stop issuing licencesfor one of the world's worstblood sports.
In a message to Minister JohnGormley, Dr Olga Kikou of theGreek Greens said: "We expressour deep concern over your deci-sion to support the cruel sport ofhare coursing"."Our opposition to this unac-ceptable form of entertainmentreflects the opinions of our mem-bers and the Greek public atlarge," Dr Kikou added. "Therecannot be any place for this"sport" in the 21st century.""To our great surprise, we wererecently informed of your issuinglicences which give official per-mission for the continuation ofthe image of the Green Party ofIreland within your country andabroad."Minister Gormley was remindedby the Ecogreen representativethat "the eradication of violencethroughout the world is one ofthe basic principles of the GreenParty and we, as members, needto give our full support to the val-ues of non-violence to humanand non human animals."The Irish Council Against BloodSports has thanked Dr OlgaKikou and the Greek Greens fortheir solidarity.We have highlighted this inter-national support to MinisterGormley and other Irish GreenParty representatives and urgedthem to do whatever it takes toensure that no further licencesare given to those involved in thisdisgusting blood sport.
GREEN PARTIESthe worldover are fundamentallyopposed to activities involvinganimal cruelty.
Among the Green groups whohave expressed support for ourcampaign against coursing is theGreen Party in Switzerland.Aspokesperson is on record assaying that the party “fully supportyour position" and they asked usto convey to Minister JohnGormley their desire to see bloodsports licences refused here.ICABS is grateful to the SwissGreens for this support.
MINISTER OFState at theDepartment of Agriculture andformer leader of the GreenParty, Trevor Sargent, has beentold that hares are still at riskof suffering and dying duringcoursing activities.
In December 2004, Trevorurged the then EnvironmentMinister to end licences for cours-ing and save hares from thethreat of capture myopathy (alsoknown as shock disease).In a Dail Question, DeputySargent asked Minister Roche if“he will consider the threat ofmyopathy for the hare species,which is a stress induced condi-tion; and if he will end licences forhare coursing to minimise thethreat.”Hares are at risk of succumbingto stress-related illnesses whilebeing captured in nets for cours-ing, while being manhandled incaptivity and during the coursingmeetings.ICABS has asked TrevorSargent if he will repeat his ques-tion to the current EnvironmentMinister, John Gormley - also thecurrent leader of the Green Party.
this form of animal cruelty," DrKikou added. "We strongly urgeyou to refuse to licence coursersfor the 2009-2010 season. Thisact will protect hares from bloodthirsty individuals and will pro-mote the protection of these ani-mals. In addition, it will enhance
Greek Greens appealto Irish Green Party
Swiss supportfor campaign
Trevor Sargent told stresswill still threaten hares
The Greek Greens want JohnGormley to stop licensing this.
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