Big crowds at Clonmel National Coursing Meeting

[Crustmantlecore]

It is my belief that the Irish Coursing Club will be brought down from the inside out, through financial difficulties and bad management. I have had close family connections to the industry all my life, and from the time I was a small child, I could recognise that it was wrong and cruel. I have seen the terror of the hares as they are released from the boxes they are transported in. I know the background to it. I have always wanted to see it banned.

[Farrahy]

Fair play Crustmantle, at last it seems that we finally have somebody who is opposed to coursing who actually has formed first hand opinions for themselves without this crap of coursing with beagles/hares being torn assunder being the primary goal etc etc. I dont agree with you but I respect your point of view.

Personally I prefer open over park coursing as it is more natural, the hare is in his own environment and there is far more variables than in a park.

[TARZAN]

Watch Sky showcase channel 201 at 9pm this Thursday as they are airing a documentary made this year at the national coursing finals in Clonmel. A great chance for those on p.ie who are constantly told porkies by the animal rights posters to see this rural past time and the people involved close up.

[TARZAN]

I am told that despite pressure from certain people on the channel to cancel they have decided to go ahead as planned. Certain groups should realise that intimidating people to come around to their way of thinking does not work all the time and often has the opposite effect.

[Seanie Lemass]

I am told that despite pressure from certain people on the channel to cancel they have decided to go ahead as planned. Certain groups should realise that intimidating people to come around to their way of thinking does not work all the time and often has the opposite effect.

Ironic is it not that those who claim that if 'only people knew' the savagery of coursing, then they would ban it are the very ones who tried to have this programme taken off the air

[TARZAN]

Intimidating sponsors of horse racing , hare coursing , angling and other country sports is the latest tactic employed by those who want to see these sports banned. They have bombarded hotels who advertise angling and shooting holidays with hateful e mails and have done likewise to sponsors of the various sports they want to see outlawed. Thankfully the public are finally seeing them for what they really are and will no longer tolerate their threats made to people engaged in lawful sporting activities.

[Crustmantlecore]

The ICC has treated its employees as shamefully as it has treated the poor hares it captures each year.
As I said earlier, it is my hope and expectation that it will bring itself down through in-fighting and bad management.

[baaba maal]

Here's the abstract from a paper published a couple of years back by a Dr. Reid in Queen's University Belfast.. His hard-data backed finding seems to strongly contradict your (baseless) assertion that coursing has a negative impact on hare numbers:



Integrating field sports, hare population management and conservation


Conflicts between field sports, animal welfare and species conservation are frequently contentious. In Ireland, the Irish Coursing Club (ICC) competitively tests the speed and agility of two greyhounds by using a live hare as a lure. Each coursing club is associated with a number of discrete localities, known as preserves, which are managed favourably for hares including predator control, prohibition of other forms of hunting such as shooting and poaching and the maintenance and enhancement of suitable hare habitat. We indirectly tested the efficacy of such management by comparing hare abundance within preserves to that in the wider countryside. In real terms, mean hare density was 18 times higher, and after controlling for variance in habitat
remained 3 times higher, within ICC preserves than the wider countryside. Whilst we cannot rule out the role of habitat, our results suggest that hare numbers are maintained at high levels in ICC preserves either because clubs select areas of high hare density and subsequently have a negligible effect on numbers or that active population management positively increases hare
abundance. The Irish hare Lepus timidus hibernicus Bell, 1837 is one of the highest priority species for conservation action in Ireland and without concessions for its role in conservation, any change in the legal status of hare coursing under animal welfare grounds, may necessitate an increase in Government subsidies for conservation on private land and together with a strengthened capacity for legislation enforcement.

Eh, it's not my (baseless) assertion- the abstract you have quoted says clearly "Whilst we cannot rule out the role of habitat, our results suggest that hare numbers are maintained at high levels in ICC preserves either because clubs select areas of high hare density and subsequently have a negligible effect on numbers or that active population management positively increases hare abundance".
When a respected academic says "we cannot rule out the role of habitat"- he means exactly that. He is talking about hare numbers on ICC preserves- my point was that hare numbers are decreasing nationally due to habitat loss and fragmentation as well as coursing- the above quote does not address the "collateral damage" of reduced fecundity in holding hares pre-meetings due to stress etc. The point about the cost of conserving hares in the absence of coursing is a separate one.

[TARZAN]

Nobody can deny the self interests of groups involved in shooting , angling , hare coursing etc for ensuring a plentiful stock of game on lands they control but look at the alternative. The countryside is changing and if these organisation were to cease then it would be only a matter of time before some of our native species became extinct. Just look at the latest request from the Dept of Wildlife to the local gun clubs to help eradicate the unhealthy growth of vermin like mink and grey crow. Without the help of these voluntary organisations much of our native species would disappear within a matter of a few years.

[Mercurial]

Intimidating sponsors of horse racing , hare coursing , angling and other country sports is the latest tactic employed by those who want to see these sports banned. They have bombarded hotels who advertise angling and shooting holidays with hateful e mails and have done likewise to sponsors of the various sports they want to see outlawed. Thankfully the public are finally seeing them for what they really are and will no longer tolerate their threats made to people engaged in lawful sporting activities.

You seem to have a problem with the word "some".