It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Coursing. (Discuss)
Hare coursing is the coursing of hares, that is to say the hunting of them with sight hounds. In formal hare coursing the objective is to test the dogs on their ability to turn the hare. Informal coursing is often conducted to kill, either for betting or for food. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...
Coursing is the pursuit of game by dogs—chiefly Greyhounds—running by sight, not by scent. ...
Coursing is the pursuit of game by dogs—chiefly Greyhounds—running by sight, not by scent. ...
Species Many, see text Hares and jackrabbits belong to family Leporidae, and mostly in genus Lepus. ...
A hunter on horseback shoots at deer or elk with a bow. ...
The Whippet shows the characteristic long legs, deep chest, and narrow waist of a sight hound. ...
In recent decades, controversy has developed around hare coursing with some viewing it as a cruel bloodsport, and others seeing it as a traditional activity that assists in the conservation of hares. A blood sport is a sport involving bloodshed or the killing of animals for food, pest control, or entertainment. ...
History of the two types of hare coursing
Formal coursing Whether for sporting or hunting purposes, hare coursing 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. Today hare coursing is practiced using greyhounds that are registered with a governing greyhound body (the National Coursing Club in Great Britain, the Irish Coursing Club in Ireland); the objective is to test and judge the athletic ability of the dogs rather than to kill the hare. The Lords and Barons prove their Nobility by hanging their Banners and exposing their Coats-of-arms at the door of the Lodge of the Heralds. ...
This article is about the breed of dog; for other meanings of Greyhound, see Greyhound (disambiguation). ...
Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. ...
Informal coursing The oldest form of hare coursing simply involved two dogs chasing a hare, the winner being the dog that caught the hare; this could be for pest control, for food, or for sport. In order to legally indulge in the practice, the peasantry developed various cross breeds under the generic term lurcher. Today such animals may be spepcifically bred for the purpose. Informal coursing is nearly always poaching, lacking the landowner's permission, and is often seen as a major problem by landowners and by the police. The fuck up is not a dog breed, but rather a type of dog native to the British Isles, a hearty crossbred sighthound which is generally a cross between a Greyhound and another sort of local dog. ...
A seashell vendor sells seashells which have been taken alive from the water, killing the animal inside. ...
Description of formal hare coursing Hare 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 were "driven" by beaters towards the coursing 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 when 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'. Since the greyhounds are much bigger than the hare, and much less agile, they find it hard to follow the hare's sharp turns, giving the hare an important and often crucial advantage. The Waterloo Cup is the Blue Riband event on the hare coursing calendar. ...
The contest between the greyhounds is judged from horseback.
Welfare issues in coursing The Burns Inquiry, set up by the Government, concluded that "We are similarly satisfied that being pursued, caught and killed by dogs during coursing seriously compromises the welfare of the hare. It is clear, moreover, that, if the dog or dogs catch the hare, they do not always kill it quickly. There can also sometimes be a significant delay, in “driven” coursing, before the “picker up” reaches the hare and dispatches it (if it is not already dead). In the case of “walked up” coursing, the delay is likely to be even longer." (see paragraph 6.68 of report[1])
'The kill' in coursing The rules of the National Coursing Club were changed shortly before 2003 so that a point was no longer awarded for a greyhound that killed a hare "through superior dash and speed." However, kills did take, although the numbers are hotly disputed. The Government's Burns Inquiry said that about 250 hares are killed each year in formal coursing. Much larger numbers of kills are believed to take place in informal coursing.
The National Coursing Club and the organisers of the Waterloo Cup each said that, on average, one in eight hares coursed come to harm and that kills are very rare. By contrast, RSPCA Inspectors who attended the event - the most important event in the coursing calendar before the passage of the Hunting Act 2004, estimated that one in five hares coursed are killed at the event. The Waterloo Cup is the Blue Riband event on the hare coursing calendar. ...
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is a charity in England and Wales that promotes animal welfare. ...
The Hunting Act 2004 is an Act in the United Kingdom passed in 2004. ...
Observers of hare coursing at the Waterloo Cup regularly reported a minority of people in the crowd cheering when hares were killed, although this attitude would be criticised by the organisers of the event.
Conservation/Pest control Two contrasting arguments are made in favour of hare coursing. Some coursers claim that coursing assists conservation because it relies on landowners creating a habitat suitable for hares. Opponents say that the converse is true, namely that coursing takes place where hares live rather than hares living where coursing takes place. On the other hand, some landowners believe that high densities of hare are agricultural pests - a view also taken by the California Dept. of Agriculture [2]. Larval form of some beetle is damaging specimen of Sceliphron destillatorius in entomogical collection. ...
Hares are the subject of a species action plan [3] aiming to double spring numbers in Britain by 2010.
Legislation 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 Government Bills 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 events have been suspended in England and Wales since that date. Eric Samuel Heffer (January 12, 1922 – May 27, 1991) was a British socialist politician. ...
Liverpool Walton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...
British House of Commons Canadian House of Commons In some bicameral parliaments of a Westminster System, the House of Commons has historically been the name of the elected lower house. ...
This article is about the British House of Lords. ...
For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...
2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The Hunting Act 2004 is an Act in the United Kingdom passed in 2004. ...
February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Coursing in Ireland and in Northern Ireland There has been no legislation to ban hare coursing in Ireland, although there is a campaign to this end by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports. Instead formal coursing is regulated through the mechanism of requiring coursing clubs to obtain Government licences to net hares. In Ireland the national meeting in Clonmel, Co.Tipperary and the Irish Cup at Limerick Racecourse, Greenmount, County Limerick are the most important events in the coursing calendar.
There are two formal coursing clubs in Northern Ireland, in Dungannon and Ballymena. However, 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 being coursed or hunted under a Special Order under the Game Preservation (NI) Act. The two Northern Ireland coursing clubs travel to Ireland to hold meetings in conjunction with coursing clubs there. Dieu et mon droit (motto) (French for God and my right)2 Northern Irelands location within the UK Main language English Other recognised languages Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Hain MP Area - Total Ranked 4th...
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. - 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.
- under Irish Coursing Club rules it is compulsory that the dogs are muzzled.
- hares are not plentiful in all parts of Ireland, mainly due to modern agricultural practices, illegal hare killings and informal coursing. In order to run a coursing meeting, 70 or so hares have to be found for each event; they are generally caught by use of nets under the terms of a licence agreement between the Irish Coursing Club and the Irish Government. The hares are then transported in boxes to the coursing venue where they are trained to be coursed. After the coursing event, the hares are transported back to where they were netted and re-released into the wild. Because hares are generally caught and released in the area where the club hunts, it is unlikely that hares will be raced at more than one meeting per year. However, reports by Government wardens, published under freedom of information legislation state that hares have sometimes been coursed more than once at the same event.
- the British form of coursing is run on points while the Irish one is not. The latter 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. The report from the official Countryside ranger at the Wexford Coursing Club meeting in December 2003 confirms that forty hares died at the event.[4] The report of the veterinary surgeon who examined the hares blames the "significant stress" of being "corralled and coursed." Opponents of coursing also refer to the (British) National Coursing Club evidence to the Burns Inquiry[5] 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. The League Against Cruel Sports is an animal welfare organisation registered as a limited company (prohibited by law from acting as a charity because its aims are political) campaigning against blood sports, in particular fox hunting and hare coursing. ...
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 many 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.
Another issue that alarms both supporters and opponents of coursing is the trading of hares, which is illegal. A small minority carry out these activities; 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. Informal coursing and illegal hare killngs are also strongly opposed by both sets of supporters.
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[6] 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 argue that the public has not heard their side of the story. The League Against Cruel Sports is an animal welfare organisation registered as a limited company (prohibited by law from acting as a charity because its aims are political) campaigning against blood sports, in particular fox hunting and hare coursing. ...
'Open field coursing' of jackrabbits takes place in a number of states in America. According to Animal Place, an American animal welfare group, such hare coursing is legal in California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah & Wyoming but illegal in Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Vermont & Wisconsin. Genera Lepus Caprolagus Pronolagus Hares and Jackrabbits belong to family Leporidae, and mostly in genus Lepus. ...
Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area Ranked 3rd - Total 158,302 sq. ...
Official language(s) English Capital Denver Largest city Denver Area - Total - Width - Length - % water - Latitude - Longitude Ranked 8th 104,185 sq mi 269 837 km² 280 miles 451 km 380 miles 612 km 0. ...
Official language(s) None Capital Largest city Carson City Las Vegas Area - Total - Width - Length - % water - Latitude - Longitude Ranked 7th 110,567 sq mi 286,367 km² 322 miles 519 km 490 miles 788 km 0. ...
Official language(s) None Capital Santa Fe Largest city Albuquerque Area Ranked 5th - Total 121,665 sq. ...
Official language(s) English Capital Salt Lake City Largest city Salt Lake City Area Ranked 13th - Total 84,876 sq. ...
Official language(s) English Capital Largest city Cheyenne Cheyenne Area Ranked 10th - Total 97,872 sq mi (253,554 km²) - Width 280 miles (450 km) - Length 360 miles (580 km) - % water 0. ...
Official language(s) None Capital Phoenix Largest city Phoenix Area Ranked 6th - Total 113,998 sq. ...
Official language(s) English Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Area Ranked 22nd - Total 65,794 sq. ...
Official language(s) None Capital Boise Largest city Boise Area Ranked 14th - Total 83,642 sq. ...
Official language(s) English Capital Topeka Largest city Wichita Area Ranked 15th - Total 82,277 sq. ...
Official language(s) None Capital Augusta Largest city Portland Area - Total - Width - Length - % water - Latitude - Longitude Ranked 39th 33,414 sq mi 86,542 km² 190 miles 305 km 320 miles 515 km 13. ...
Official language(s) None Capital Largest city Saint Paul Minneapolis Area - Total - Width - Length - % water - Latitude - Longitude Ranked 12th 87,014 sq mi 225,365 km² 250 miles 400 km 400 miles 645 km 8. ...
Official language(s) English Capital Boston Largest city Boston Area Ranked 44th - Total 10,555 sq. ...
Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...
Official language(s) None Capital Largest city Salem Portland Area Ranked 9th - Total 98,466 sq. ...
Official language(s) See: Languages of Texas Capital Austin Largest city Houston Area Ranked 2nd - Total 268,581 sq. ...
Official language(s) None Capital Montpelier Largest city Burlington Area Ranked 43rd - Total 9,620 sq. ...
Official language(s) None Capital Madison Largest city Milwaukee Area Ranked 23rd - Total 65,498 sq. ...
This is just one of the falsehoods submitted by proponents of the legislation below. In fact, "open field coursing" is legal in all US states where jackrabbits exist per the Fish & Game Commissions of all states in question. The states listed as illegal, ban closed park coursing, as it occurs in Ireland. Closed park coursing was used in the US for training Greyhounds, for the race tracks. Open field coursing remains legal in all states with a huntable population of jackrabbits. Washington state lists jackrabbits as a protected species, due to an unusally low population for a western state, and bans all forms of hunting them. But does not specifically ban open field coursing.
In early 2006, the TV channel ABC 7 showed film[[7]] of coursing, with sets of three greyhounds competing in the chase of a number of hares. Subsequently a bill, AB2110, was introduced to make it a crime for any person in California to engage in "field coursing" defined, in effect, as any activity - anyhwere, any time - resulting in injury or death to a rabbit, hare or fox by a dog. A pro-coursing campaign[8] was also established. The bill was later amended to forbid only the competitive evaluation of a dog for hunting of rabbit, hare, or fox without injury or death. However, the bill continued to specifically allow hunting in accordance with existing law. KABC-TV, ABC7 is an American Broadcasting Company (Disney/ABC) owned station in the Los Angeles area, and is the West Coast flagship station of the ABC network. ...
In May 2006, this bizzare legislation died in the Calfornia Assembly Appropriations Committee, which nominally considers the benefits of a bill in relation to its cost.
Alternatives Some critics of hare coursing suggest that coursers could test their dogs through sports such as lure coursing. Lure coursing is a sport for dogs that involves chasing a mechanically operated lure. ...
See also Photo finish of a greyhound race in Tampa, Florida, USA on February 9, 1939. ...
Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...
The Countryside Alliance strongly opposes House of Commons plans to ban fox hunting. ...
External links |
Feeds |
Contact