Click on Farmers at www.banbloodsports.com to download “No Hunting” posters
Action Alert: Ballymaloe House and Local Hunt
21 DecHunt to depart from Ballymaloe House on New Year’s Day
21 December 2011
Ballymaloe House in Cork is to again host a hunt this New Year’s Day. In a current “special offer”, the country house is trying to attract guests with the promise of mulled wine, mince pies and a chance to see the local hunt setting off from the property.
A notice on the Ballymaloe bookings page outlines that the offer includes: “complimentary afternoon tea and cake during your stay and mulled wine with mince pies on New Year’s morning [2012] when the local hunt departs from Ballymaloe”.
More details are given on marketing website, Ireland’s Blue Book, which outlines that visitors to Ballymaloe can “act as a spectator or join in with the local hunt as it departs from Ballymaloe”.
“Chose to put on your riding boots or wrap your hands around a warming glass of mulled wine as the hounds get excited,” it adds.
Ballymaloe House is owned by members of the Allen Family. Despite conveying concern for wildlife on its website – “the grounds are a haven for wildlife” – hunters and hounds have been invited on to the property for years.
In 2002, ICABS highlighted how Darina Allen “wined and dined” members of a local hunt. A photograph of the celebrity cook published in the Irish Field newspaper showed her serving mince pies to a mounted Cloyne Harriers huntsman outside Ballymaloe House. According to the accompanying report, “there was a bottomless supply of lovely mulled wine and delicious mince pies” at the New Year’s Day lawn meet.
ACTION ALERT
Please contact Ballymaloe House and urge management to show compassion for the victims of hunting by keeping hunters and hounds out. If its association with hunts would make you avoid staying at the property or purchasing Ballymaloe-related products, please make this clear in your correspondence.
The Manager
Ballymaloe House
Shanagarry
Co. Cork
Email: res@ballymaloe.ie
Tel: +353 (0)21 4652 531
Twitter: @Ballymaloe
Animal Voice: Winter 2011-12
20 DecThe Winter 2011-12 edition of Animal Voice, the Irish Council Against Blood Sports campaign magazine
Download (pdf)
Find out more about our campaign at www.banbloodsports.com
To make a donation, please click on the Paypal button at www.banbloodsports.com or send a cheque to ICABS, PO Box 88, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, Ireland.
Receive Animal Voice by email every month. Send “Subscribe” to info@banbloodsports.com
Thank you for your support!
Bad Hare Days
25 NovDownload (pdf, 7.8 Mb)
Bad Hare Days
One man’s fight against a cruel blood sport!
By John Fitzgerald
Follow John Fitzgerald on Facebook
(www.tinyurl.com/johnfitzgerald)
Witness the cruelty of hare coursing
Click on “Videos” at www.banbloodsports.com
Ask Irish politicians to ban coursing
Email members of the Dail / Irish Parliament from:
www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/Members_emails/document1.htm
Join the campaign against coursing
Email “Join” to info@banbloodsports.com
Vote for our anti-hunt campaign video
11 Nov
Please vote for our “Make Hunting a Thing of the Past” campaign video in the Better Together awards 2011.
Please give it a 5 star rating at
http://www.tinyurl.com/vote4icabs
You can vote once every day up to 11 November.
Thanks very much.
Irish Council Against Blood Sports
www.banbloodsports.com
Urge FBD to stop offering insurance to cruel hunters
21 OctFBD Insurance is offering cover to hunters who cause damage and injury during hunting activities. The company has been asked to scrap its pro-hunt policy.
In a booklet dealing with FBD Liability Insurance, a number of questions and answers are presented, including:
Q. I own a horse and go hunting – any cover here?
A. The standard FBD Public Liability policy provides cover for damage caused to property or injuries caused to third parties while you are hunting on horseback.
Q. How are animals covered while away from the farm? For example, animals at shows, horses at shows or at the hunt
A. You are covered under your public liability insurance for any injury or damage that these animals may cause to members of the public or their property
ICABS has complained to FBD about its pro-hunt policy. In a letter to CEO, Andrew Langford, we stated:
“By offering coverage to hunters, your company is facilitating the continuation of foxhunting – an extremely cruel and barbaric activity that a majority of Irish people want made illegal. Hunting involves the terrorisation of foxes – a pack of hounds and a group of hunters chase the defenceless animals to exhaustion. When caught by the hounds, foxes are ripped apart. Those that try to find refuge underground are dug out with spades and thrown to the hounds.”
For a company with its roots in the agricultural sector, it is ironic that FBD is facilitating an activity which
* Poses a threat to farm biosecurity – hounds can spread diseases as the hunts passes from farm to farm
* Causes untold stress and inconvenience to farmers trying to keep trespassing hunts off their land.
* Results in damage to pastures and farm boundaries.
* Causes disturbance and death to livestock.
We hope that FBD Insurance will show compassion for the foxes, and the farmers plagued by hunts, and immediately scrap this hunt cover.
ACTION ALERT
Urge FBD Insurance to stop insuring those involved in animal cruelty and scrap its pro-hunt policy. If FBD’s association with hunters would make you choose an alternative insurance company, please make this clear in your correspondence.
Andrew Langford,
Group Chief Executive
FBD Insurance
Bluebell
Dublin 12
or
FBD Insurance,
FREEPOST F3034,
PO BOX 11225,
Dublin 12.
Email: company.secretary@fbd.ie
Skype: fbd.insurance
Tel: Locall 1890 617 617
Please download and post this letter
ICABS advises anyone who experiences hunt trespass to immediately contact the Gardai and urge them to prosecute. We also recommend that legal advice is sought with a view to pursuing a claim for compensation. In all cases, take photos and/or video of the trespass and damage. For more information, please click on “Farmers” at www.banbloodsports.com.
Demand a ban on foxhunting
20 Oct
Demand an end to foxhunting in Ireland. Contact Irish Taoiseach / Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, and demand that he ban this horrendous blood sport.
Email Now: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie
Phone: 00353 (0)1-6194020 / 4021 / 4043
Fax: 00353 (0)1-6764048
Forward a copy of your correspondence to your local TDs:
Find out the name of your TDs and their email addresses.
Write to your TDs at:
Dáil Éireann
Leinster House
Kildare Street
Dublin 2, Ireland.
Fox photo by Muriel Hayden
10 Reasons to Keep Hunters Out
23 SepPlease read and act now to keep hunters off your land.
Make copies of this information sheet and distribute to all landowners in your area.
For more information, click on “Farmers” at www.banbloodsports.com
Thank you.
Tell Ireland’s forestry board to stop profiting from killing
28 Jul
The Irish Council Against Blood Sports is calling on Ireland’s forestry board, Coillte, to stop selling licences to hunters to shoot defenceless forest creatures.
The licences Coillte are selling will allow hunters to target deer, birds and “other wild quarry species”. The animals that will be gunned down include both forest wildlife and creatures introduced to the forests and released as living targets for shooters.
In an email to Coillte CEO, David Gunning, ICABS said that it is saddening that the company is happy to boost its profits from wildlife destruction. “Coillte is owned by the Irish people, the majority of whom value our wildlife and would abhor killing for fun,” we stated. “We hope you will take this into consideration, end the killing and give protection to the defenceless forest creatures.”
On its website, Coillte says it respects “the traditional nature” of hunting and stalking. Ironically, in another section of the site, Coillte urges nature-loving visitors to the forests to “respect wildlife”, “avoid disturbing” animals and birds and avoid feeding wildlife as “our foods damage their health and leave them vulnerable to predators.”
URGENT ACTION ALERT
Please urgently contact Coillte and demand that they stop selling licences to hunters and making profits from the killing of defenceless animals and birds.
David Gunning
CEO, Coillte
The Irish Forestry Board
Newtownmountkennedy
Co Wicklow, Ireland
Tel: +353 (0)1 201 11 11
Fax: +353 (0)1 201 11 99
Email: pr@coillte.ie
SAMPLE LETTER
(If you have time, please compose your own personal letter.)
Dear Mr Gunning,
I am writing to demand that Coillte stops selling licences to hunters to enter Coillte property to shoot and kill defenceless birds and animals. It greatly saddens me that Coillte is happy to boost its revenue from the destruction of life. The animals that will be blasted to death are creatures currently living in the forests and those brought in for the specific purpose of being used as living targets for shooters. These animals should be allowed to live free from persecution. Foxes, deer, rabbits and birds all add immeasurably to the public’s enjoyment of the forest experience. I find it unacceptable that Coillte is sacrificing them for profit. Coillte is owned by the Irish people, the majority of whom would oppose the killing of animals for fun. I call on you to make our forests a safe haven for wildlife and immediately end the practice of inviting hunters in to destroy. Thank you. I look forward to your prompt reply. Yours sincerely, [Name/Location] |
Also contact your nearest Coillte regional office.
You can find their locations at
www.coillte.ie/aboutcoillte/contact_us
| Will creatures in your local forests be shot and killed?
To see the areas around Ireland at which Coillte is inviting hunters in to kill, please click on the links: Birds | Deer |
Flickr Photos
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