Baby hare rescued at snowy Dublin Airport

A baby “beast from the east” has been saved from certain death after compassionate staff at Dublin Airport hopped in to action.

A heart-warming video posted on the @DublinAirport twitter feed shows the deep snow operation unfolding – “A special rescue this morning by one of our Airport Police. This little fella was taken to safety & given food and heat. We’re happy to report he’s safe and well.” https://twitter.com/DublinAirport/status/969939400430899200

The video, which has already been viewed over 200,000 times in the past 24 hours, was later followed by an update tweet stating: “Hareport News: the rescued baby hare is getting some TLC with our colleague who found it & his family. He’s a she, they’ve called her Emma & will release her back into the wild when she’s back to full health.”

Well done to the staff member at Dublin Airport for this wonderful act of kindness. Hares are one of Ireland’s most loved and cherished wild creatures and are deserving of every protection.

What a pity that our politicians do not share this sense of duty to protect hares from harm. Every year, the Minister for “Culture and Heritage” issues a licence which allows coursing clubs to net thousands of hares from the wild for use as live lures for greyhounds to chase. In 2016, 114 TDs (including current Taoiseach/Tanaiste Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney) crowded into Dail Eireann to betray the Irish Hare and vote to ensure that hare coursing – one of Ireland’s worst acts of cruelty to animals – continues.

Leverets like the one saved at Dublin Airport are among the victims of coursing.

According to a National Parks and Wildlife Service document obtained by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports under the Freedom of Information Act, five leverets were born in the “escape” area of the Glin coursing compound last season. The baby hares were spotted by wildlife rangers among the hares captured for a coursing meeting held at the beginning of October. The NPWS report says that the rangers were unable to identify the mothers of the leverets and so they “organised care for and release of the 5 leverets” It goes on to add that leverets were also discovered “at an early Kerry club meeting”.

There are not only fears for the welfare of leverets born in captivity but also for those left orphaned in the wild when their mothers are cruelly netted for coursing. These vulnerable, dependent creatures are almost certainly doomed to die without their mothers.

This is not the first times that leverets have been born in captivity. For example, it was noted by a National Parks ranger, who monitored a meeting in Tubbercurry in December 2016 that there were three pregnant hares in the coursing compound, one of which gave birth to two leverets.

The idea of pregnant hares and leverets – or indeed any hares – in a coursing compound is truly appalling. These animals should all be in the wild where they belong, not in a bloodsport venue to be used as live bait for dogs in a grotesque activity that should have been banned decades ago.

ACTION ALERT

Watch the latest video evidence of hare coursing cruelty (filmed last month) – https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/videos/1596636050451947/ – and join calls on Minister Josepha Madigan to stop licensing coursing

Josepha Madigan TD
Minister for Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht
Phone: +353 (0)1 631 3800
Email: josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://facebook.com/JosephaMadiganFG
Tweet to: @josephamadigan

Contact Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and urge him to ban hare coursing and give permanent protection to hares.

An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar
Government Buildings,
Upper Merrion St, Dublin 2
Telephone: +353 (0)1-6194020
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie, leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie
Tweet to: @campaignforLeo
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/campaignforleo/

Contact your local TDs and urge them to push for a ban on hare coursing and all blood sports. Visit the Oireachtas website for names of TDs and their email addresses http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=32&disp=mem

Please sign and share the petitions.

Ban Blood Sports in Ireland Now
https://www.change.org/petitions/ban-blood-sports-in-ireland

Ireland: Ban cruel hare coursing
https://www.change.org/p/ireland-ban-cruel-hare-coursing