Hare coursing
In some countries, it is a legal, competitive activity in which dogs are tested on their ability to run, overtake and turn a hare, rather than a form of hunting aiming at the capture of game.
The sport grew in popularity in Europe during the 19th century but has since experienced a decline due in part to the introduction of greyhound racing with betting, and laws passed that have banned the practice.
In other countries, including Spain, Ireland and the Western United States, it is a regulated and judged, competitive sport.
It is from Arrian that the most famous quote on the sporting fairness of coursing originates: "... true huntsmen do not take out their hounds to catch the creature, but for a trial of speed and a race, and they are satisfied if the hare manages to find something that will rescue her".
[2][3][4] The competitive version of hare coursing was given definitive form[5] when the first complete set of English rules, known as the Laws of the Leash, was drawn up in the reign of Elizabeth I reputedly by Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk,[6] providing for a pursuit of no more than two hounds, a headstart termed "Law" to be given to the hare for a fair run, and for the manner of awarding points on "Speed", "Go-bye", "Turn", "Wrench", "Kill" and "Trip", to judge the dogs' performance.
The objective of legal formal coursing is to test and judge the athletic ability of the dogs rather than to kill the hare.
Instead of being coursed on open land, the Irish form is run in a secure enclosure over a set distance.
Since 1993, Irish Coursing Club rules have made it compulsory for the greyhounds to be muzzled while they chase the hare.
[34] Open field coursing of jackrabbits, which are members of the hare family,[35] now takes place in a number of states in Western America, including California, Montana and Wyoming,[36] and is said by the North American Coursing Association to take place also in Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.
Animal Place, a California-based animal rights group which opposes coursing, claims that the activity is legal in California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming but illegal in Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Vermont and Wisconsin.
[22] According to the UK Government review, the Burns Inquiry (published in 2000), hare coursing was taking place in Pakistan, Portugal and Spain.
[50] These dogs have a precarious life after their coursing careers, with World Animal Protection suggesting that many tens of thousands die cruelly each year.
In 1892, Lady Florence Dixie criticised hare coursing as an "aggravated form of torture"[57] and the League Against Cruel Sports was established in 1924 to campaign against rabbit coursing on Morden Common[58] and continues to believe that it is wrong to expose animals to the risk of injury or death for human entertainment.
The first thorough study was carried out in 1977–79 by the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW), albeit that it said that it was "not easy to draw conclusions from these reports".
[62] According to a review of this study conducted for the Burns Inquiry, "Of the 53 hares killed, 43 had neck injuries, 18 of which were inflicted by the handler (as evidenced from a clean break and no teeth marks).
[66] The report from the official Countryside ranger at the Wexford Coursing Club meeting in December 2003 confirms that, exceptionally, 40 hares died at the event and the report of the veterinary surgeon who examined the hares blames the "significant stress" of being "corralled and coursed".
[69] In 2000, the rules of the UK National Coursing Club awarded a point to a greyhound that killed a hare "through superior dash and speed".
The UK government's Burns Inquiry which submitted its final report in 2000 said that about 250 hares were killed each year in formal coursing.
[68] Inspectors from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals who attended the event estimated that a greater number, one in five hares coursed, was killed.
[73] During the 2013 season, the Irish National Parks and Wildlife Service oversaw 23 hare coursing meetings.
Over 100 hares "required assistance" after being struck during races, which led to over 20 of them dying of natural causes or having to be euthanised.
[76] Elsewhere, such as in the UK, hares are not always seen as pests, and there are species action plans aiming to significantly increase their numbers.
[77] Some coursers say that coursing assists conservation because it leads to sporting landowners creating a habitat suitable for hares.
[79] Eric Heffer, MP for Liverpool Walton, was a major opponent of coursing in the late 1960s, and Prime Minister Harold Wilson joined in the criticism.
[92] In early 2006, the TV channel ABC 7 showed a film of coursing with sets of three greyhounds competing in the chase of a number of hares.
[93] Coursing was banned in the County concerned,[94] and California Assemblywoman Loni Hancock promoted a bill, AB2110, to make it a crime for any person in California to engage in open field coursing – defined as a "competition in which dogs are, by the use of rabbits, hares, or foxes, assessed as to skill in hunting live rabbits, hares, or foxes".
