Talk:Hare coursing/2006 Rewrite

This page is intended to be a place to begin drafts toward a rewrite of the article, aiming for NPOV - Rorybowman 23:39, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

''Work from this page has been transferred to the main hare coursing article. This page is therefore now an archive.'' MikeHobday 08:20, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

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Coursing is a general British term for hunting with sight hounds, especially greyhounds. Hare coursing is a kind of coursing wherein hares are pursued, either with greyhounds or mixed-breed hounds called lurchers.

Like other sorts of hunting, hare coursing is often called a blood sport by animal welfare activists, and has a history of regulation, first to privilege the upper classes and later toward a more egalitarian "sport" phase. Coursing is currently illegal in the United Kingdom under the Hunting Act of 2004, with formal matches suspended. As with all hunting, "informal" coursing contrary to law is considered poaching, condemned by sportsmen and anti-hunting activists alike.

The Procedure
Informal coursing may be as simple as taking a hound out until a hare is spotted, and then releasing the hound to pursue it on its own, either for the owner's pleasure or to exercise the hound. When allowed by law this is considered hunting and usually regulated as to the hours, seasons and conditions in which it can take place. When conducted illegally, it is considered poaching.

Formal hare coursing is considered a sport by its organizers, with hounds as the "players." Meets are usually run as knockout tournaments, wherein a given hound may pursue several hares over the course of a day. The Waterloo Cup is probably the most well-known coursing event, before its suspension in 2005 for legal reasons.

Coursing takes different forms. Irish coursing takes place within a predefined area, with established escape routes. In Great Britain, walked-up coursing involves a line of people walking until a hare is spotted, whereupon the hounds are released, and open coursing consists of hares being driven toward a predefined area, called the running ground.

Formal hare coursing is conducted within a defined area in accordance with clear rules. The "running ground" is cleared of hares by beaters who walk the course to flush away all wild hares, while a slipper holds the two competing hounds, normally muzzled or collared with red or white colors to simplify scoring. At a predefined time, a single hare is introduced into the running ground, and given a fair law "head start." Once the hare is a set distance from the two hounds (usually 80 to 100 meters), the slipper releases the hounds simultaneously to engage in pursuit. Hounds are scored for their skill in pursuing the smaller, more agile hare.

Judges on horseback note how each greyhound pursues and turns the hare, awarding points for turns of less than ninety degrees, more points for turns of greater than ninety degrees and additional points if a hound clearly outdistances its rival. This continues until the hare escapes the running ground or is caught by a hound. A flag steward indicates the result of any given course by raising a red or white flag, with other colors used to indicate byes and other course conditions.

Controversy
The arguments for and against coursing are almost identical to those for and against fox hunting. Proponents look on it as a traditional form of recreation while opponents consider it a cruel blood sport, inflicting suffering on the hares and appealing to the basest instincts in spectators and participants. Some landowners believe that high densities of hare are pests, although they are the subject of a species action plan aiming to double spring numbers in Britain by 2010.

Legislation
In 2002, the Scottish Parliament passed the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act which banned hare coursing in Scotland. In 2004 the British parliament passed the Hunting Act, which banned hare coursing (as well as other forms of hunting with hounds) in England and Wales. The Act came into effect on February 18, 2005, and formal hare coursing events have been suspended since that date.

History
Coursing is the World's oldest sport and can date back to the time of Cúchulainn.Whether for sporting or hunting purposes, hare coursing was an activity that was historically restricted to the nobility, with greyhounds and various other pure bred dogs being used, the ownership of which was forbidden among those of the lower social classes. In order to legally indulge in the practice, the peasantry developed various cross breeds under the generic term 'lurcher'. The orginal sport simply involved two dogs chasing a hare, the winner being the dog that caught the hare.

Traditional Hunting
The majority of hunters and lurcher owners in bygone times were interested in working their dogs in pest control, for food, or for sport. Some peolple still carry out informal coursing which as everyone would agree gives coursing a bad name. In each case, the dogs often kill the quarry. This is the oldest form of hare coursing.

Traditionally, hare coursing is the hunting of hares with dogs (when practiced formally, greyhounds; when conducted informally usually Lurchers which may have been bred specficially for the purpose). In formal hare coursing the objective is to turn the hare using greyhounds that are registered with a governed greyhound body. Today the term typically refers to a sport in which the primary purpose is to judge the athletic ability of the dogs rather than to kill the hare. Informal coursing is often conducted to kill (whether for betting or for food) and nearly always lacks the landowner's permission.

In recent decades, controversy has developed around hare coursing as some view it as a bloodsport, while others see it as a traditional activity that should not be legally restricted.

Sport
Coursing in Britain is open coursing, that is, it takes place in the open (as opposed to irish coursing which takes place in an enclosure with an escape route). There are two forms of open coursing. In driven coursing (such as the Waterloo Cup), hares are "driven" by beaters towards the cousing field. As they enter the field, a person known as a slipper releases two dogs at the same time, in pursuit of the hare, which is given a head start (known as 'fair law'), usually between 80 and 100 yards. In walked-up coursing, a line of people walk through the countryside and a pair of greyhounds are released after a hare is disturbed. Under National Coursing Club rules, the dogs are awarded points on how many times they can turn the hare, and how closely they follow the hare's 'course' (and not for the kill). Since the greyhounds are much bigger than the hare, and much less agile, following the hare's turns and jinks is very hard for them which gives the hare another important and crucial advantage along with the "fair law" slip.

Figures for kills are hotly disputed. The National Coursing Club (in Great Britain) and the organisers of the event each say that, on average, one in eight hares coursed come to harm, (the figure is higher because this is open coursing), and that kills are very rare. On the other side of the argument, RSPCA Inspectors who attend the Waterloo Cup estimate that one in five hares coursed are killed at the event. Hare coursers state hares are more likely to be killed in the wild,because of informal hare coursing,shooting or by a fox, than at a coursing meeting.

The contest between the greyhounds is judged from horseback.

Before the passage of the Hunting Act 2004, the most important event in the coursing calendar was the Waterloo Cup. This was the world's most famous coursing and greyhound event. The Legendary Irish dog "Master McGrath" won the cup three times in the mid 19th century.

Ban
The practice of hare coursing has long been controversial. Eric Heffer, MP for Liverpool Walton, was a major opponent of coursing and began his attempts to ban the practice in the late 1960s. Indeed, the House of Commons voted for laws to ban hare coursing in 1969 and in 1975; neither law passed the House of Lords to become law. In 2002, the Scottish Parliament passed the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act which banned hare coursing in Scotland. In 2004 the British parliament passed the Hunting Act, which banned hare coursing as well as other forms of hunting with hounds. The Act came into effect on February 18, 2005, and hare coursing supporters hoped that alleged loopholes in the law might have enabled the event to continue to be held. This proved not to be the case, and formal coursing events did not take place in England and Wales after February 18, 2005.

Coursing in Ireland and in Northern Ireland
There has been no legislation to ban hare coursing in Ireland, although there is a campaign to achieve this by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports. There are two formal coursing clubs in Northern Ireland, in Dungannon and Ballymena.

In Ireland the national meeting in Clonmel, Co.Tipperary and the Irish Cup at Limerick Racecourse, Greenmount, County Limerick are the most important events.

No formal coursing has taken place in Northern Ireland since 2002, as UK Ministers have refused the coursing clubs permission to net hares for coursing. At the present time, hares are also protected from coursing or hunting under a Special Order under the Game Preservation (NI) Act. The two Northern Ireland coursing clubs object to this ban, but travel to Ireland to hold meetings in conjunction with coursing clubs there.

Comparison to coursing in Britain
There are several differences between coursing in Great Britain under National Coursing Club rules and coursing in Ireland under Irish Coursing Club rules.

Firstly, the British form is open coursing which takes place in open land. The Irish form is run in a secure enclosure over a set distance.

Secondly, Irish Coursing Club rules state that its compulsory that the dogs are muzzled.

Thirdly hares are not always plentyful in some parts of Ireland due to modern agricultural practices, illegal hare killings and informal coursing while in other parts of Ireland hares are more than plentyful. In order to run a coursing meeting, 70 or so hares have to be found for coursing at a single event. Hares are generally caught by use of nets - this is done under the terms of a licence agreement between the Irish Coursing Club and the Irish Government. They are then transported in boxes to the coursing venue, kept in a big and secure enclosure safe from foxes etc. and well fed with oats, apples etc. and then the hares are trained to be coursed. Then, when the time of the meeting arrives, the hares know the runs (which gives them an advantage over the greyhounds) and are coursed. The hares run up the field and into the escape where the dogs can't get in. After the coursing the hares are transported back to where they were netted and will be released into the wild again. Generally, hares are only raced at one meeting per year and are let off in the area where the club hunts which means that other clubs are not obliged to catch them. However, reports by official Government wardens, published under freedom of information legislation, say that, occasionally, hares have been coursed more than once at the same event but very rarely at other events.

Fourthly, the Great British form is run on points while the Irish one is not. It is run on the basis of the first dog to turn the hare wins and this is denoted by either a red flag or a white flag (the collars of both dogs respectively).

Welfare arguments about coursing in Ireland
Organisations such as the Irish Council Against Bloodsports and the League Against Cruel Sports say that it is wrong to expose animals to the risk of injury or death for human entertainment. They point out that some hares are killed - some due to injuries caused by the muzzled dogs pounding the hares into the ground and some due to capture myopathy. For example, they cite reports of Government wildlife inspectors to say that 50 hares were killed in the 2001/02 coursing season. They also refer to the (British) National Coursing Club evidence to the Burns Inquiry which said that muzzled coursing can cause more suffering than unmuzzled if the coursing officials are not able to reach injured hares quickly, they point to occasional video evidence that shows this happening.

Coursing suporters deny that hare coursing is cruel. They say that very few hares die and that hares that are injured, pregnant or ill are not allowed to run and are seen by a vet. They say that, where hares die, this is because of an error of judgement by the slipper. In particular, they deny the claim that 50 hares were killed in 2001/02. They say that the National Coursing Club statement should not be given weight because it was given in the context that the National Coursing Club wanted to keep the traditional (unmuzzled) form of coursing. They say that traditional coursing has way more fatalities than muzzled coursing. Supporters say that, as the aim is not to kill or harm the hare, coursing should not be given so much publicity and should not be considered as a [blood sport]. They further say that the wildlife rangers who are present at the coursing events say that the hares are well fed, well looked after and the coursing is run well with very few casualties. They say that a lot of people unforunately don't know what coursing is which can easily make these people turn against it when they are told only only one side of the story.

The report (link below) from the official Countryside ranger at the Wexford Coursing Club meeting in December 2003 confirms that forty hares died at the event. The report of a veterinary surgeon who examined the hares blames the "significant stress" of being "corralled and coursed."

Another issue that alarms both 99.9% of coursers and animal welfare groups is the trading, buying and selling of hares, which is illegal. A small minority carry out these activities for there own good, for example, there was a conviction for this in 2002 after the Dungannon Coursing Club had only been able to find nine hares to course, though all people involved are not necessarily involved in coursing clubs. The trading in particular can ruin a meeting (i.e a sick hare being given to another club, which leads to the whole hare stock getting sick). Both Coursing Groups and animal welfare groups are totally against this and agree that prosecutions should take place when this happens.

Informal coursing and illegal hare killngs are also strongly opposed by both sets of supporters.

Attacks and Threats on Coursing venues
Attacks have occurred on coursing venues in the past.Such attacks reportably include putting nails,tacks,trespassing and also planting detonated devices around the Park on the field at Powerstown Park,Clonmel,Co.Tipperary (Link is below).However the devices never went off.The ALF claimed responsibility for this attack and issued a statement.However a while later they silently reported that it was only a hoax.They have also said in the Irish Examiner that they were going to attack,firebomb, a highly respectible,generous and well renowned Irish businessman ,by the name of J.P McManus, home and other properties of his.However this was only a threat to McManus because of his continued and generous sponsoring of the famous Irish Cup.The ALF attack was not condemed at the time by other animal welfare groups who insist that it was a hoax and never happened.Indeed a highly respected member of the League Against Cruel Sports stated that ,although he believes it was a hoax ,if the attack happened it would be deplorable and he would condem any attack like that.

Public opinion (Northern Ireland)
There have not been any recent opinion surveys in the Irish Republic. However, the League Against Cruel Sports commissioned Millward Brown Ulster to do a survey of 1,000 Northern Ireland residents at the end of 2003. This found that at the claim that that 85% of rural people believed that hare coursing is cruel, that 73% believed it is immoral and that 70% wanted to see it brought to an end. Hare coursers say that the majority of respondents do not necessarily know what coursing is or indeed know the full story, having only seen one side of the story in the media, and not being told,without negative views toward it,what it is.

External link

 * Countryside Alliance
 * Article on why why former former chief officer of the League Against Cruel Sports,Graham Sirl changed his views on coursing and other blood sports
 * Evidence of attack on the Irish National Coursing Venue
 * Evidence of 40 deaths at Wexford coursing event
 * Evidence that the ALF attacked Powerstown Park
 * Evidence of the threat the ALF made to a Irish businessman and hare coursing supporters
 * Gamekeeping
 * Horse and Hound
 * Hunting Saboteurs Ireland
 * Information on the breeding of Greyhounds
 * Irish Council Against Bloodsports
 * Irish Greyhound Body
 * League Against Cruel Sports
 * National Coursing Club
 * Sporting Press - Ireland's Leading Greyhound/Coursing Newspaper
 * The ALF state that the attack on Powerstown Park was a hoax but that next time it will be for real

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