An Irish Council Against Blood Sports Newsletter. October 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. Ask Google to stop advertising foxhunting in Ireland

The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has appealed to Google to stop advertising foxhuntingholidays in Ireland. A "Google Ad" invites readers to "experience the thrill of the chase".Please join our appeal to Google - respond to our action alert now.

ACTION ALERT

Ask Google to stop displaying ads for foxhunting. Use the sample letter below or composeyour own original letter. Thank you.

Mr John HerlihyVice President, Global Ad OperationsGoogle Dublin, Google Ireland Ltd.Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4Tel: +353 (1) 436 1000. Fax: +353 (1) 436 1001Dear Mr Herlihy,I am horrified to see that one of the ads being displayed in "Ads by Google" is for the cruel andbarbaric activity of foxhunting. ["Fox hunting in Ireland - Experience the thrill of the chase"]I call on your company to immediately remove this ad on the grounds that it is promoting one of Ireland's worst acts of animal cruelty.In foxhunting across Ireland, foxes are disturbed from their habitats, chased to exhaustion and tornapart by a pack of trained hounds. Foxes that manage to escape underground are dug out withspades while terriers are sent down to viciously attack them.I invite you to view this short Irish Council Against Blood Sports campaign video which shows justsome of the suffering involved:http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x54eit_ban-foxhunting-in-ireland_animalsI trust that after viewing this, Google will agree that foxhunting is disgusting animal cruelty. I hope,therefore, that you will act now to remove this ad and stop publicising foxhunting.Thank youYours faithfully[Name/Country]

02. Carted deerhunt ban in sight

ICABS welcomes the ban on deer hunting secured by the Green Party following their negotiations with Fianna Fail on a new programme for government at the weekend. This isindeed an historic milestone in our campaign to bring to an end the hunting of animals withdogs in Ireland.

Let us hope that this announced ban on the carted deer hunt soon becomes a reality and that thisabhorrent and abusive past-time which has been engaged in by the Ward Union hunt club for over 150 years, will at last be consigned to the dustbin of history where it belongs.Sadly, and most disappointingly, there will be no respite for hares and foxes, with Fianna Fail refusingto countenance a ban on hare coursing and foxhunting.

Action Alert

Express your thanks to Green Party leader, Minister John Gormley, and urge him and hisparty to do whatever it takes to also bring hare coursing and foxhunting to an end.

Minister John GormleyDepartment of the EnvironmentCustom House, Dublin 1.Tel: 01 888 2403. Fax: 01 878 8640.Email:minister@environ.ie

03. The animals get my vote

Please send a copy of our new "The Animals Get My Vote" poster to all your local politiciansto tell them that their attitude towards animals and their commitment to bringing animalcruelty to an end will be a major factor in your voting decision.

Why not also arrange a meeting with your local politicians to discuss your concerns about animalcruelty and encourage them to take action.View the poster:http://www.scribd.com/doc/21062972Download the poster [pdf, 250Kb]http://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/files/2009/10/the_animals_get_my_vote.pdf For the names of your TDs, please click on your county athttp://www.oireachtas.ie/members%2Dhist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=30&disp=constContact your TD at: Dail Eireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.Tel: 01-618 3000 or 1890 337889 (1890 DEPUTY).For a list of Senators, please visithttp://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=1&HouseNum=23&disp=memContact your Senator at: Seanad Eireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.Tel: 01-618 3000 or 1890 732 623 (1890 SEANAD).

04. ICABS responds to vet's defence of cruel coursing

ICABS has responded to a veterinary surgeon who openly defended hare coursing. In a letter to the editor published in the Irish Examiner, we challenged the vet's claim that coursers"hold the welfare of the Irish hare very close to their hearts".

In his letter of October 6th, Vet Tommy Kearney also said that when he attended a coursing meetingin Glin, Co Limerick, he was "immediately struck by the importance of this event in the community"and that he would "urge anybody to make a point of attending a meeting." You can read Mr Kearney'sletter in full at http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer Responding, ICABS described the claim as wrong and commented that it was horrifying that a vetwould defend the blood sport. Please scroll down to read our reply in full.

Time for the curtain to come down on coursing

Letter to the Editor, Irish Examiner, 10 October 2009IT was horrifying to see an actual veterinary surgeon defending cruel coursing (Letters, October 6).Tommy Kearney's claim that coursers "hold the welfare of the Irish hare very close to their hearts" is just plain wrong.Veterinary Ireland clearly defines welfare as "a state of well-being in which an animal ... is notsubjected to unnecessary pain, fear or suffering". In coursing, hares are subjected to all three.Over the years, the Irish Council Against Blood Sports has uncovered just some of this suffering:hares squealing in distress after being caught by muzzled dogs, pregnant hares forced to run for their lives, a hare with a fractured femur and another in agony with its leg "almost completely broken off".When I attended a meeting at Glin some years ago, I was immediately struck by the sickeningscenes of suffering. I saw a hare pummelled into the ground and another hit so hard that it wascertainly left with broken bones.There is no justification whatsoever for subjecting animals to this abuse. The time has come for thecurtain to come down on coursing.Philip KiernanIrish Council Against Blood SportsPO Box 88, Mullingar, Co Westmeath

05. Gormley grants hare net licence

The Irish Council Against Blood Sports roundly condemns the decision made by EnvironmentMinister John Gormley to grant yet another licence to capture hares from the wild for use aslive lures for greyhounds in the cruel and primitive "sport" of hare coursing.

We are astounded that a "GREEN" Minister would issue such a licence, not only because of theinherent animal cruelty but also due to the fact that hares in the wild are in decline. Last year Minister Gormley himself issued a report on the Status of EU Protected Habitats and Species in Ireland, whichrated the conservation status of the Irish hare as "poor" with reasons gives as loss of habitat,increased urbanisation and hunting. This decline continues, as a recent survey published in NorthernIreland shows, and in response to that decline all hare hunting across the border has beensuspended for the last five years, with Edwin Poots, NI Environment Minister last week extending thatprotection for yet another year.