Publishing Guide

Upcoming Events

International | Animal Rights

no events match your query!

New Events

no events posted in last week

Other Press

How Sea Shepherd lost battle against Japan’s whale hunters in Antarctic 22:39 Dec 24 0 comments

Horses Die at Cheltenham - Again 22:47 Mar 14 19 comments

Musicians, Actors and animal friends sign letter of support for the Greyhounds 21:12 May 12 0 comments

Closing communique : World week for thr abolition of meat 22:31 Feb 19 0 comments

ACTION ALERT! Contact 'Lara Boutique' and TV3 21:04 Mar 18 1 comments

more >>

User Preferences

Feeds

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Human Rights in Ireland

Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.

Top Scientists Confirm Covid Shots Cause Heart Attacks in Children Sun Oct 05, 2025 21:31 | imc

Fraud and mismanagement at University College Cork Thu Aug 28, 2025 19:30 | Calli Morganite

Deliberate Design Flaw In ChatGPT-5 Sun Aug 17, 2025 09:04 | Mind Agent

AI Reach: Gemini Reasoning Question of God Sat Aug 02, 2025 21:00 | Mind Agent

Israeli Human Rights Group B'Tselem finally Admits It is Genocide releasing Our Genocide report Sat Aug 02, 2025 00:54 | 1 of indy

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

Top Therapist ?Ousted? After Trans Activist Row Sun Oct 26, 2025 19:42 | Richard Eldred
The leader of one of Britain's largest therapy groups has faced death threats after raising concerns about the safety of treatment for gender-questioning children.
The post Top Therapist ?Ousted? After Trans Activist Row appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Brazilian Chef Rejects Prince William?s Vegan Banquet: ?It?s Like Asking Iron Maiden to Play Jazz? Sun Oct 26, 2025 17:07 | Richard Eldred
A Brazilian chef has ditched cooking for Prince William at the Earthshot environmental awards after being told the menu must be vegan ? calling it a total slap in the face to Amazonian tradition.
The post Brazilian Chef Rejects Prince William’s Vegan Banquet: ?It?s Like Asking Iron Maiden to Play Jazz? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

The Banal, the Craven and the Sinister at a College Staff Well-being Day Sun Oct 26, 2025 15:00 | Dave Summers
Join Dave Summers for an eye-widening tour of a college staff 'Well-being' day, where the normally inoffensive 'fun, stress-busting' activities take a decidedly sinister turn.
The post The Banal, the Craven and the Sinister at a College Staff Well-being Day appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Fury as ?Hard-Up? Met Police Set to Splurge ?5 Million a Year on 64-Strong Woke Taskforce? as Half o... Sun Oct 26, 2025 13:00 | Richard Eldred
While the Met is axing half its mounted officers, closing stations and slashing frontline policing to plug a ?250 million hole, it's somehow found ?5.2 million for a 64-strong 'woke' taskforce and 63 diversity events.
The post Fury as ?Hard-Up? Met Police Set to Splurge ?5 Million a Year on 64-Strong Woke Taskforce? as Half of Its Mounted Officers Face Losing Their Jobs appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

God Help Us! Students Given Trigger Warning About the Bible?s Death and Violence ? Including Christ?... Sun Oct 26, 2025 11:00 | Richard Eldred
After Homer, Shakespeare and Dickens, the Bible is the latest classic to get a trigger warning for its depictions of violence, including Christ's crucifixion.
The post God Help Us! Students Given Trigger Warning About the Bible?s Death and Violence ? Including Christ?s Crucifixion appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network

Voltaire, international edition

Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Heeding the hare's pitiful cry

international | animal rights | opinion/analysis

Sunday January 29, 2023 17:12

by John Fitzgerald

Report this post to the editors

The so-called national hare coursing festival will be held held next week...

Last week an ex-hunter recalled how a hare’s screech, when he shot the animal, turned him against shooting.
He is typical of many “conversion” cases I’ve heard of.

A pheasant shooter for example who felt revulsion when forced to finish of a bird he’d failed to kill outright and was struck by the magnificence of its multi-coloured plumage as it gasped for breath, its life-blood dripping into the snow; and a hunter who “turned” after befriending a fox that came mooching into his garden.

I find the child-like screaming of a hare in distress heart-rending, having heard it many times at coursing events. When a hare is forcibly struck by a pursuing dog it emits what sounds like an unearthly plea for help.

Sadly, its cry seems never-ending in Ireland. A few days ago the Citizens Assembly on Biodiversity Loss rapped up its deliberations, and one hopes that the government will act on its recommendations.

How anomalous that within less than a month of this high-profile attempt to safeguard what remains of our decimated wildlife heritage the three day so-called national coursing festival will be held.

We should heed the hare’s cry and ask our TDs to outlaw this obscenity.

John Fitzgerald,
Callan, Co. Kilkenny

* A peaceful protest will be mounted outside the National hare coursing festival at Powerstown Park, Clonmel, on Sunday February 5th, from 12 noon to 2 pm. All welcome at protest. Still battling to end this activity that continues thanks to the vice-like grip that coursing clubs have on our politicians. But as in other countries that once permitted coursing, we'll eventually prevail.

Add Your Comments >>

printable version

with comments

atom feed of comments

rss feed of comments

RSS and atom feeds allow you to keep track of new comments on particular stories. You can input the URL's from these links into a rss reader and you will be informed whenever somebody posts a new comment.

Digg this

Furl

Reddit

Gab

Twitter

© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy