animal voice - 2008 edition

2008 EditionCampaign Newsletter of the Irish Council Against Blood Sports

Gormley grants anotherhare coursing licence

Thousands more hares will now suffer blood sport cruelty

Despite compelling conser-vation reasons for the licenceto be refused - as well as apre-election promise by theGreen Party that they wouldend blood sports in govern-ment - the licence was issuedon Friday, 29th August.ICABS has expressed ourextreme disappointment toMinister Gormley.

The licence allows thou-sands of hares to be forceful-ly removed from the wild innets. The creatures, which willhave suffered the stress ofbeing netted, handled byhumans and transported incrates to coursing enclosures,

THOUSANDS of hares will suffer the cruelties ofcoursing, thanks to the latest blood sports licenceissued by Environment Minister, John Gormley.

will be kept in captivity for upto three months. During thistime, they will be mercilesslyused as lures for greyhounds.

In one of several appeals toMinister Gormley, ICABShighlighted the injuries anddeaths suffered by hares inthe last season following thecoursing licence he issued in2007. We also flagged theconservation reasons for alicence refusal. We remindedthe Minister of a report hehimself issued in May (Statusof EU Protected Habitats &Species in Ireland) whichwarned that the overall con-servation status of the Irish

Hare is “POOR”. The reasonsgiven included loss of habitat,increased urbanisation andhunting.

We also highlighted how thecoursers themselves havecomplained about a lack ofhares. We cited a NationalParks and Wildlife Servicemonitoring report which quot-ed one coursing official asadmitting that “this particularyear the most difficult ever tofind and capture wild hares.”

He went on to tell the rangerthat “more man-hours werespent this year looking forhares and yet the numbercaught was low...the haresare just not out on the landanymore.”

Continued on page three

Minister John Gormley’s licence meanshares like this will continue to suffer

For all the latest updates and action alerts, visit www.banbloodsports.com

Animal Voice is published by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports, PO Box 88, Mullingar, Co Westmeath,Ireland. Tel: 044-93 49848. Fax: 044-93 49848. Email: [email protected]. Visit our websites at

www.banbloodsports.com, myspace.com/banbloodsports, bebo.com/banbloodsports, youtube.com/icabsEditorial Team: Philip Kiernan and Aideen Yourell. Layout & Design: Philip Kiernan. Please pass Animal Voice on to a friendwhen finished with it. Further copies can be downloaded freely by clicking on Newsletters at banbloodsports.com. Thank you.

THE IRISH CouncilAgainst Blood Sportscampaign relies entirelyon your generosity to con-tinue campaigning againstblood sport cruelty.Please help us by sending

in your subscription today orby making a donation.Please use the enclosedsubscription form or set up adirect debit with form alsoenclosed. Alternatively, youcan pay online using a cred-it card or paypal account -simply click on “Shop” at

www.banbloodsports.comfor more details.A big thank you to those

who have sent in subscrip-tions and donations sincethe last edition of AnimalVoice. We are very gratefulto you for these vital funds.If your sub is not yet due forrenewal, please pass theenclosed forms on to afriend. Copies of the formmay be downloaded fromour website from the “JoinICABS” page. Thank you.

Foxhunting cut fromdocumentary awardsFILMBASE and SetantaSports have respondedpositively to an ICABSappeal for foxhunting to bedropped from a sports doc-umentary competition.

The “Sports ShortDocumentary Awards 2008”had been inviting submissionson the theme of foxhuntingbut after ICABS complained,the category was cut from thescheme.

“We appeal to Filmbase andSetanta Sports to accept thatsince foxhunting is not a sportand that it involves horren-dous animal cruelty, it is inap-propriate to include it in thesports documentary awards,”

ICABS stated in our appeal.

Describing foxhunting as“an insult to sport”, we arguedsuccessfully that, as itinvolves dozens of men andwomen on horseback alongwith a pack of hounds terroris-ing one small, defencelesscreature, this unequal andmean-spirited set-up couldnever be considered a sport.

In response, AlanFitzpatrick, the ManagingDirector at Filmbase, assuredus that “it was never our inten-tion to offend anyone byincluding foxhunting as atopic. Nor was it the intentionof Setanta Sports or Filmbaseto present an agenda that is

pro-hunting or to promote fox-hunting generally.”

“Having considered thepoints raised in your email,”he added. “We have, in con-sultation with Setanta Sports,made the decision that fox-hunting should be removedfrom the scheme.”

ICABS has thankedFilmbase and Setanta forshowing solidarity with ourcampaign and cutting foxhunt-ing from its list of categories.

The winning documentariesin the award scheme will bebroadcast in January 2009 aspart of Setanta Sports’ newSports Matters series.

ICABS argued successfullythat abusing foxes could

never be considered a sport

For the latest campaignnews, successes and

action alerts, please visit www.banbloodsports.com

URGENT APPEAL FOR YOURSUBS AND DONATIONS

Trapped hare “squealedwith distress”: report

A HARE “squealed with dis-tress” after being caught bya muzzled greyhound duringa coursing meeting last sea-son. Just one of thedeplorable instances of ani-mal cruelty uncovered byICABS from the latest NPWSreports.

The documents provide yetanother horrifying insight intothe fate of hares caught bycoursing clubs. The abuse out-lined is some of the worst everencountered by ICABS.

Among the disturbing inci-dents witnessed by theNational Parks and WildlifeService rangers during the2006/07 season are:

Hares being killed after beingviciously mauled by grey-hounds, hares sufferinginjuries so severe that theyhad to be put down, a haresuffering with “a badly brokenhind leg”, a hare “carrying ahind leg” and a hare with “adamaged hind toe”.

Capture data addsto fears for hares

REVELATIONS in a NationalParks & Wildlife Servicereport that coursers are find-ing it difficult to find hareshave sparked fresh fears forthe future of the species.

A report on coursing in Offalysays that the Ballinagar clubcould only find 63 hares(including one leveret) for usein their blood sport.

The quality of the harescaught “appeared to be poor”,the NPWS ranger outlined,pointing out that the club had toreduce the number of coursesover the 2-day meet.

The ranger added that a clubofficial told him that the cours-ers found “this particular yearthe most difficult ever to findand capture wild hares” andthat “more man-hours were

spent this year looking forhares and yet the numbercaught was low.”

“He said that the hares arejust not out on the land any-more,” the ranger continued.“He also told me that his clubmight have to amalgamate withEdenderry as the Ballinagarclub is struggling to find haresany more.”

The reports also revealedthat other clubs had low num-bers of hares with Galway andOranmore with just 49, Trimwith 50 and Loughrea with 55.

The Irish Council AgainstBlood Sports has brought thisto the attention of MinisterGormley as part of our latestappeal to him to refuse furtherlicences to the Irish CoursingClub. THE OVERALL conservation

status of the Irish Hare is“poor” according to the“Status of EU ProtectedHabitats and Species inIreland” report.

Issued in May by MInisterJohn Gormley, it states that “fac-tors likely to reduce hare num-bers locally include loss ofrefuge areas, change fromgrassland to silage growing, andhunting.”

The report confirms that the“main pressures” and “threats”to the hare include “trapping,poisoning and poaching”.

If Minister Gormley does nothalt the netting of hares forcoursing, Ireland could very like-ly be in breach of an EU direc-tive on wildlife conservation.

Status of IrishHare is “poor”

Without proper protection,the future for hares is bleak

Page 43

Irish wildlifeunder threat

Aideen Yourell, ICABS, Extract from letter in Irish Times,

3rd June, 2008.

A REPORT issued recentlyby Minister for the Environ-ment John Gormley revealedshocking news about thestate of our wildlife and itshabitats. Some species aredescribed as on the brink ofextinction, while the status ofothers, including hares andotters, is “poor”.

In the case of the otter, it tooka directive from Europe to stopits persecution by hunters...butthe danger still remains fromthose who have switched tomink hunting along the samerivers, thereby creating hugedisturbance for otters.

For many years now, the IrishCouncil Against Blood Sportshas been calling on successiveministers for the environment tostop issuing hare-nettinglicences and to outlaw harryingand beagling, all to no avail.

Meanwhile our neighbours inNorthern Ireland have suspend-ed all hare hunting and coursingin the past few years. Not to bethwarted, the Northern courserstravel south to be hosted byclubs from the Republic, creat-ing more pressure on our hares.

Will we have to wait for anoth-er slap on the wrist from Europeto protect our wildlife? I hopeMinister Gormley will take theinitiative now to give our pre-cious wildlife the protection it sodesperately needs.

Letters to the Editorssometime the following day. Toadd to this, the number of badgerskilled illegally on Irish farms canonly be guessed at.

If killing badgers was the solu-tion, Ireland should be TB-freelong ago. According to availablefigures, we removed 25,291 reac-tors in 2007, an increase on the22,071 taken out in 2006.

Bovine TB is a cattle disease.The skin test for TB in cattle is not100% accurate and it is not diag-nostic. Healthy animals some-times fail it but more alarming stillis that occasionally an infectedanimal can slip through. It onlytakes one missed animal to startthe ball rolling again. These ani-mals are like time bombs in aherd.

It is very likely that badgers orig-inally picked up the disease fromcattle through their dietary habitsof foraging under infected cowpats. How and if they transmit itback to cattle is pure conjecture.

Bernadette Barrett, Extract fromletter to the Editor, Limerick

Leader, January 2008

MICHAEL McElligot’s letterpublished in Leader of January12 relating to cattle TB and thealleged role of the badger mer-its a response. His suggestionthat a small number of the ani-mals be humanely culled andtested at Government laborato-ries suggests that he is out oftouch with the reality of the sit-uation.

We have been slaughteringbadgers for ‘scientific research’ foralmost two decades. Since theEast Offaly study, 55,800 badgershave made the journey to the sixregional labs for autopsy.

First, they required capturing inthe most inhumane way, bymeans of the barbaric multi-strandwire snare which is ourGovernment’s chosen method.They are snared overnight, leftstruggling for freedom and shot

Badgers controversy

Nuala Donlon, Lanesborough,Co Longford. Extract from letterin Irish Times, 5th Feb, 2008.

AS SOMEONE born, rearedand still resident in ruralIreland, I am getting increas-ingly tired of the pro-foxhunt-ing lobby’s attempts to paintthemselves as the guardiansof the rural way of life and thefarmer’s best friend.

I come from a part of ruralIreland where we have always,

thankfully, been spared thepresence of a foxhunt and I’mglad to report that the area hasnot been over-run by foxes.

Nor is predation of farm ani-mals by foxes a problem of anysignificance; by far the majorityof farm animal mortality relatesto issues of sub-standard hus-bandry, as is the case through-out Ireland, and this fact is well-documented by the Departmentof Agriculture.

HUNTERS NOT THEFARMER’S FRIENDS

Bullfights inadvertising

Philip Kiernan, Irish CouncilAgainst Blood Sports,

Letter to the Editor, Irish Times, July 22, 2008.

VODAFONE’S inclusionof a bullfighting scene inits current televisionadvert is both insensitiveand offensive.

The footage of a matadortaunting a bull was used, thecompany maintains,because “bullfighting is seenas an important part ofSpain’s tradition and cul-ture.”

This may be the view oflazy advertising executivesstuck in the past but it’s cer-tainly not based on any mod-ern truth. Bullfighting is nowto Spain what hunting andcoursing are to Ireland - anoffensive anachronismwhich most want ended.

A Gallup opinion poll car-ried out last year leaves nodoubt whatsoever thatSpaniards are overwhelm-ingly rejecting this horrorshow. A mere 7 per centexpressed support for theactivity while up to 82 percent said they had no inter-est in it.

Vodafone should recog-nise that torturing animals iscruelty, not culture, andimmediately cut this scene.

John Fitzgerald, Kilkenny. Letter to the Editor, Galway

Independent, 13 August 2008.

IRELAND’S equestrianprowess has been show-cased magnificently at theRDS, with some of the bestriders and horses in thecountry having performedfor the crowds.

And of course the show hasonce again been used by thecountry’s foxhunts to glam-ourise their delightful sport.Riders dressed up in immacu-late Tally-ho outfits wentthrough their paces, andpacks of hounds were dis-played proudly, in a sanitisedre-enactment of a huntingscene.

It made foxhunting look sopretty and harmless … fun forall the family.

But there was somethingmissing: Okay, you had thehunts people in their colourfulcostumes, the sturdy horsesin top form, and the houndswith their tails wagging happi-ly.

The notable absentee fromthis supposed replication ofhunting skills and pageantrywas the humble fox. He wasnowhere to be seen at theRDS.

While playing a central rolein a typical day’s hunting inthe countryside, An Madra

Rua failed to put in an appear-ance on the very day whenthousands of TV viewerscould have seen for them-selves how he gets such athrill out of being chased byhounds, and how beingcaught and savaged by themdoesn’t bother him a bit, as weknow from the HuntingAssociation of Ireland.

Or how the fox that runs toground is so sporting…absolutely delighted with him-self, about being dug out ofhis refuge with the aid ofspades and terriers andtossed to the pack.

The foxhunters lost a goldenopportunity to win over allthose ignorant folk whobelieve hunting is cruel, orunfair to the fox.

What a pity he was so damnconspicuous by his absence.We could have watched fromour sitting rooms or barstoolsas the hunters displayed thatcharacteristic affection forIreland’s wildlife that theyclaim is at the heart of thewhole field sport ethos.

At the end of the televisedhunt, we might even havedetected on the fox’s bloodiedand mutilated face … the fainttraces of a smile.

Then we’d know for sure itdied laughing.

Letters to the EditorsAbsentee fox raisesquestion of hunting

Welcome MessageWELCOME to the 2008 edi-tion of Animal Voice, andour annual round-up ofcampaigning news andupdates.

As we go to press, sadly, wehave to report that the cours-ers have again been licensedto net hares from the wild foranother season of crueltyand abuse, despite the factthat Minister Gormley hadcompelling reasons to refusethe licence on conservationgrounds, not to mention the‘Catalogue of Cruelty’ fromlast year’s season that wepresented to him, showingthat nothing changes incoursing and hares continueto be mauled, injured andkilled.

Meanwhile, we continue tohighlight the cruelty in themedia with a record numberof letters to editors and radiointerviews over the past year.Our well attended protest lastFebruary outside the cours-ing ‘festival’ in Clonmel alsoreceived great coverage.

The Ward Union carted deerhunt are awaiting theirlicence, and after their courtvictory overturning MinisterGormley’s restrictive licencelast year, it will be interestingto see what the Minister willdo this time. We are, ofcourse, pressing for him torefuse this licence.

We continue to lobby thepoliticians on foxhunting,hare coursing and carteddeer hunting, and we can’tstress enough to you, our

loyal supporters, how impor-tant it is to make your viewsknown to your local TDs,especially now, as a newAnimal Welfare Bill is beingdrafted by the Department ofAgriculture, on which ICABShas made a submission, out-lining the cruelty of huntingwild animals with dogs.

Our website continues to bean important and powerfulcampaigning tool, and is keptupdated regularly by PhilipKiernan, whose technicaland artistic brilliance knowsno bounds, evidenced by thecompelling videos presenta-tions posted on our YoutubeChannel - youtube.com/icabs - which leave no doubtabout the cruelty.

The hunters meanwhile tryto keep a low profile, withtheir policy being to shunradio and TV debates. Theymanaged to sabotage theLate Late Show debatescheduled for last January byobjecting to oppositionspeakers, and the show wasaxed as a result, which goesto prove that their argumentsare indefensible and theyhave a lot to hide.

The fight goes on and we inICABS will not rest till ouraims have been achieved.Your support is absolutelyvital, both financial and other-wise, and we thank all thosewho sent donations through-out the year and wrote kindletters of encouragement.

Aideen YourellCampaign Director

As part of our impassionedplea to the Minister to fulfilhis duty to protect the IrishHare, ICABS emphasisedIreland’s obligations in rela-tion to the EU Directive onthe Conservation of NaturalHabitats and Wild Fauna andFlora.

We pointed to Article 14.1 ofthe Directive which states thatany exploitation of a protectedspecies must be “compatiblewith their being maintained at afavourable conservation sta-tus.”

We also reminded the GreenParty Minister that coursing isnow illegal in the UK and it hasbeen suspended in NorthernIreland since 2003.

Just week’s before this latestlicence by Minister Gormley,his Northern counterpart,Minister Sammy Wilson,extended the ban on hare per-secution there until at leastMarch 2009.

Minister Wilson’s brave andcommendable move cameamid fears for the “the stabilityand sustainability of the harepopulation”.

Hare coursinglicence granted

by GormleyContinued from front page

Please contact MinisterGormley to express yourdisappointment about hisgranting of the harecoursing licence.

Minister John GormleyDept of the EnvironmentCustom House, Dublin 1.

Email: [email protected]: 01 888 2403

ACTION ALERT

1

MUSICIAN Dónal Donohoehas said that foxes arealways welcome to his CoWicklow garden. In his web-site blog, the singer and gui-tarist recounts the momenthe came face-to-face withone of the creatures andtells of how a fox drops byoccasionally to drink fromthe bird bath!

“I was absorbed in what Iwas doing when I turnedaround to get something andthere he was, the fox,” Dónalwrites of the winter encounter.“With his reddish brown fur,long bushy tail and cat-likeeyes, he was no more thanthree or four feet away fromme. He just stood there look-ing at me expectantly in thehope, I suppose, that I wouldfeed him. My elderly neigh-bour had told me that whileher grandchildren had been

staying with her for a few dayssometime earlier, they had fedthe fox by hand a few times.Somehow feeding a wild ani-mal with human food did notseem right, it could make hima little too trusting of peoplewhich might not always be inhis best interest.”

“He followed me around for

about a half an hour andalthough it was hard, I resistedgiving him any food hopinginstead that he would turn hisattention to catching one ofthe many wild rabbits thatinhabit these hills. Eventuallythe fox did go his own way, butover the following days andweeks he has come aroundmany times.

“Sometimes he would eatsome of the apples that wereleft out for the birds and othertimes he would drink from thebird bath, but maybe he wasjust dropping by to say hello inhis own foxy way. As far as Iam concerned he is alwayswelcome.”

Speaking out against fox-hunting and other bloodsports, Dónal comments that“anyone who would want toinflict pain and cruelty on ananimal and experience pleas-ure in doing so is somethingthat I cannot relate to.”

“Tradition is often cited asjustification for these prac-tices,” he adds, “but cannibal-ism, eating the heart of yourenemy to gain the power of hissoul and throwing Christiansto the lions have also beentraditions in this world. Not alltraditions are necessarilygood or worth keeping.”

You can check out Dónal’swebsite at donaldonohoe.comand listen to some of hissongs at www.myspace.com/donaldonohoe.

Irish singer recountsencounter with fox

Irish singer and guitaristDónal Donohoe

The gorgeous red fox encountered by Dónal Donohoe

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to: I

rene

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dgaa

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Page 4

Coursing’s catalogueof cruelty continues

NOTHING CHANGES incoursing as far as the crueltyis concerned, and the 2007-08 season was no different,as reports obtained byICABS under Freedom ofInformation were to reveal.Hares continue to be struck,injured, killed and fatallyaffected by stress-relatedsyndromes in captivity.

NPWS rangers attended 34of the 75 meetings on the fix-ture list, and according to themonitoring reports, there washardly a meeting without haresbeing struck by muzzled dogs.

At the three-day meeting inTubbercurry last January, 26hares were hit, with 14 of thesebeing “mauled” according tothe ranger’s report. There wasno mention of what became ofthese hares, other than thatthey were released after themeeting. It would be miracu-lous if all these 14 survivedsuch maulings!

Meanwhile, at Dundalk sevenhares died as a result of beinghit by dogs. At Gorey, 11 hareswere hit, with five dying ofinjuries; at Tradaree, ninehares were hit by dogs, withfive dying of injuries; NorthKilkenny saw four hares hit,four injured and four dying ofinjuries.

At Ballyheigue, 12 hareswere hit, three killed, oneinjured and one put down, withthe vet deeming 10 hares “unfitfor coursing”.

At Loughrea, four hares were

hit and one was found dead inthe compound after the meet-ing. Two died while being put inboxes and four hares werereported “missing” after themeeting.

Sixteen hares were hit andeight injured at Wexford &District but again, there is nomention of the fate of these ani-mals.

The coursing meeting inBlarney saw five hares beingstruck, with one being killedand another put down after suf-fering a broken femur.

And so the list of cruelty goeson and on.

At Templetuohy, five hareswere found dead in the pad-dock prior to coursing, and postmortems revealed coccidiosis,a condition which is exacerbat-ed by the stress of being nettedfrom the wild, handled andtransported in crates.

Another stress-related condi-tion claimed the lives of eighthares at Glin - the creatureswere found dead before themeeting with haemorrhagicenteritis.

At Mallow, the system of tag-ging hares was crude, with fourhares having “twine tied in theirears”. Seven hares were hit,with three hares unaccountedfor on release. And in Cavan,five hares were hit according tothe coursers. Three of thesewere “released” and there wasone “escapee”.

A further five hares “eitherescaped or disappeared” dur-ing the holding period followingcapture, and a leveret was bornin captivity, indicating a preg-nant hare had been caught, inbreach of licence conditions.

A leveret was also present inthe Ballinagar compound in CoOffaly.

All this suffering was facilitat-ed by a licence from GreenParty Minister John Gormleyand we have made him awareof all the casualties.

We are told, however, thatthe welfare of hares is not hisresponsibility! MinisterGormley, in granting a licencefor this appalling blood sport,only considers conservationissues.

So, it would appear, that nogovernment department orMinister is willing to takeresponsibility for what happensto hares at the hands of cruelcoursing clubs.

A hare is sent tumbling afterbeing hit by a greyhoundduring a coursing meet.

Ryanair magends in-flight

bullfights

Ward Union’shunt is illegal,experts insist

FINE GAEL TD, TerenceFlanagan, has lent his sup-port to the campaignagainst carted deer hunt-ing.

“I support the Irish CouncilAgainst Blood Sports’ call forthe Ward Union hunt to berefused a licence,” the DublinNorth-East TD said in a letterto Minister John Gormley.

ICABS is very grateful forDeputy Flanagan’s support.

ICABS HAS praised the pub-lishers of Ryanair Magazinefor a promise that bullfightingwill no longer be publicisedin the popular in-flight publi-cation.

Responding to an ICABSappeal, editor Ramsay Shortassured us that “there will notbe any stories promoting orhighlighting bullfighting.”

FG TD wantsdeerhunt ban

Gormley considersanother licence for

deer hunt crueltyAS WE go to press, theEnvironment Minister, JohnGormley, is considering anapplication from the WardUnion for a licence foranother season of hound-ing tame deer around thecountryside with hounds.

Last year, the Ministerissued a restricted licence tothe Ward Union, which prohib-ited them from actually chas-ing the deer with dogs. It wasintended that the deer bereleased and chased for aperiod by the huntsman, thenrecaptured and taken awaybefore the dogs werereleased to follow the scentleft by the deer.

However, the Ward Unionchallenged this licence incourt, and won their case onthe basis that the licence stat-

Urge Minister Gormley torefuse a licence to theWard Union. Remind himthat carted deer hunting iscontrary to the Protectionof Animals Act which pro-tects domestic animals.

Minister John GormleyDept of the EnvironmentCustom House, Dublin 1.

Email: [email protected]: 01 888 2403.

ACTION ALERT

ed that they may hunt deerwith a pack of dogs, but thenew condition prevented themfrom doing this.

In a statement from theMinister’s office, ICABS wastold that “the terms of the set-tlement are that the case willbe dropped, and that theMinister will not impose condi-tions 12 and 13 on this orfuture licences, should suchlicences be granted.”

ICABS had urged theMinister to deny the hunters alicence in the first instance butour appeal was dismissed.

We emphasised to MinisterGormley that it was, and is, inhis power to refuse a licenceoutright on the grounds thatthe deer chased by the WardUnion are domestic and notwild, and therefore this huntshould not receive a licenceunder the Wildlife Act.

LEGAL EXPERTS have out-lined how the Ward Uniondeer hunt is illegal under cur-rent animal protection legis-lation.

Legal opinion by ProfessorsClive Symmons and WilliamBinchy of Trinity School of Law(published in the Irish LawTimes) concludes that the WardUnion hunt is “illegal” under the1911 Protection of Animals Act,and that it shouldn’t be licensedunder the 1976 Wildlife Act, asthe deer are not wild animals.

Bringing the reports to theattention of Minister Gormley,ICABS earnestly appealed tohim to stand firm against theWard Union bullies, and theirbackers in the Fianna Fail cab-inet, and bring an end to thesuffering of these vulnerableanimals.

With top legal experts con-firming that this hunt is illegal,the time has never been betterto act, we told the Minister.

Page 40

THE IRISH Council AgainstBlood Sports is thrilled toannounce that CoronationStreet star, David Neilson,has expressed his supportfor our campaign.

Award-winning, David,who plays Street legend,Roy Cropper, said: “I amhappy to be added to yourlist of supporters.”

“I oppose all blood sports,”Mr Neilson said in an email toAnimal Voice editor, PhilipKiernan.

ICABS is delighted to havethe support of David Neilson.

Other celebrities who haveapproved our campaigninclude U2, Brigitte Bardot,Howard Jones, DJ MarkWilkinson and BenjaminZephaniah.

POPULAR Irish actor andcomedian, Sean Hughes,has given the thumbs up toour campaign against bloodsports.

“I am opposed to any cruel-ty,” he told us in an email. “Ifind animal cruelty disgusting.You have my full support.”

ICABS is delighted to haveSean’s support. For more onhis work, visit myspace.com/seanhughescomedian

Coronation Street starsupports campaign

“You have myfull support”:

Sean Hughes

“I oppose all blood sports and am happy to be addedto your list of supporters”: Corrie star, David Neilson

SINGER and actress, DanaVaron has expressed hersupport for the ICABScampaign against hunting.

The New York-basedartist who is currentlyappearing in criticallyacclaimed film, Momma’sMan, said: “Hunting ishorrible. I hate it and I amso glad you are doing thiscampaign.”

You can listen to someof Dana’s excellent songsat www.danavaron.com

“HUNTING IS HORRIBLE”

Fox forced to swim forits life during foxhunt

A FOX being chased by apack of hunt hounds wasforced to swim across acanal twice in a desperatebid to try and save its life.

This hunt cruelty was out-lined in a report about theWestmeath Foxhounds pub-lished in the Irish Field (2ndFebruary 2008).

This is the same hunt who,last December, admitted mer-cilessly digging a fox out of itsearth and seeing hounds tearit asunder.

“The fox and the pack swamacross the canal and contin-ued along the banks to theM u l l i n g a r / B a l l y n a c a r g yRoad,” the disturbing reportreveals. From here, “the fox,with four and a half couple (9hounds) in pursuit, swam thecanal again before retracingtheir steps back to Newman’sBog.”

The Irish Council AgainstBlood Sports dreads to thinkof the awful fear and sufferingendured by the fox as it dideverything it possibly could totry and lose the pack.

In a letter to the editor pub-lished in the WestmeathExaminer, we appealed tolocal landowners to consider

A fox like this was chasedinto a canal by foxhounds

the canal fox’s terrible ordealand the cruelty they facilitateby inviting hunts on to theirland.

“Please stand up for ourwildlife heritage by posting‘No Hunting’ signs along prop-erty boundaries and putting anotice in your local paperwarning hunts to stay away,”we appealed.

We also asked hunt follow-ers uncomfortable with thecruelty to press for achangeover to draghunting.

We told them that “this 21stCentury alternative will nottake away your enjoyment offollowing hounds along water-ways, over stone walls andacross bogs but it will ensurethat a day’s sport will neveragain depend on a bedrag-gled fox drenched in canalwater and sweat running tosave its life.”

Hunt told to stay away from canalWhen ICABS toldWaterways Ireland aboutthe fox chased into thefreezing waters of the RoyalCanal, we were assured thatthe Westmeath Foxhoundswould be contacted andtold to stay away from thecanal.

Waterways Ireland RegionalManager, John McKeownconfirmed that “theWestmeath Foxhounds do nothave permission from

Waterways Ireland to hunt onRoyal Canal property.”

“We carried out some localinvestigations and could notfind evidence that horses hadaccessed the canal banksand no damage wasobserved,” he added.“However, I will write to thechairman of the WestmeathFoxhounds to inform themthat their horses are not per-mitted on canal property.”

In our letter to WaterwaysIreland, ICABS highlightedthe threat to public safetyposed by packs of hounds.We also pointed out that see-ing a fox running for its lifewould prove distressing tolegitimate canal and canalbank users.

“Persecution of wildlifealong the canal would surelybe upsetting to the majority ofthose who enjoy the canalexperience,” we stated.

Page 39

THE ANIMAL Rights Societyat Galway University held adebate in March with themotion “That This HouseWould Ban Hunting”.

Packing the room withhunters, coursers and terrier-men, the pro-hunt side “won”on the night as the outcomewas decided not by the validityof points presented but by ashow of hands!

In a concluding speech,Green Party Councillor, Niall OBrolchain, dismissed the huntpropaganda and declared thatthe only thing proven by thehunters was that “they can fill aroom”!

The following extracts fromletters to the editor subse-quently published in theGalway Independent illustratethe hunters’ appalling behav-iour on the night and the empti-ness of their arguments.

“The pro-hunting audiencecontinuously heckled, jeered,interrupted and booed at everyanti-hunt speaker. It seemedlike a hunt was taking place inthe theatre...I did not learn any-thing that night that would evenstart to change my mind. Theone thing I did learn was thatthe hunters are bullies.” (MurielHayden, Athenry, Co Galway)

“When is a debate not a

debate? When one side seeksto bully and intimidate the otherside into submission.

“Illogical, irrelevant argu-ments were cast around likeconfetti, with the real issue ofthe debate being carefully air-brushed out; this being thathunters hunt for the thrill of thechase and the buzz they getfrom terrorising outnumberedanimals, be those animalsfoxes or deer.

“All arguments put forwardfrom the pro-hunting side werepretty much an insult to theintelligence of the average per-son.” (A Herbert, Ballybrit,Galway)

NUIG foxhunting debate:hunters lose arguments

A terrified hare is knocked off its feet by amuzzled greyhound. Records show that hareshit by dogs can suffer broken bones andother internal injuries. Please join our appealsto the government to ban this blood sport.

COURSING CRUELTY CONTINUES

Uncovered: morehunting horrors

HOUNDS killing a hunt ser-vant, cats deliberately tar-geted by hunters, thethreat to humans and live-stock from diseased fox-hounds. ICABS Corres-pondent, Dick Power,uncovers more of hunt-ing’s horror stories...

Newspaper coverage ofhunting rarely highlights theunpleasant truths about theblood sport.

But, among the reports onthe hunting activities of SaintStephen’s Day, we were toldof the savaging of an old catin her owner’s garden. Noteveryone knows, however,that cats have been deliber-ately targeted by hunters.

“No man or woman ought tobe allowed on the huntingfield until they have read andthoroughly digested‘Thoughts on Hunting’,”asserts one Capt. J. Paget,introducing the 8th edition ofPeter Beckford’s 1951 book.

Beckford assures his read-ers that a cat is as good atrail as any and he refers toan old huntsman friend whotrained young hounds bydragging a cat along theground for a mile or two infront of them.

Beckford outlines how hehimself begins training his

young hounds in August byhaving his huntsman releasea cat before them, which theyhunt up to a kill.

Be very wary of confrontinga pack of hounds. It is record-ed that hounds killed a huntservant in County Galwaymany moons ago. Morerecently, hounds attackedand injured a housewife inthe garage of her home inLeinster.

Never fondle foxhoundseither. As far back as the1960s, foxhounds werefound to be hosts of two diffi-cult parasites - Trichinellaand Echinococcus.

Investigators concludedthat they became infected

with Trichinella as a result ofkilling and eating foxescaught during hunting.Infection in humans arisesfrom handling dogs. Sheepmay also pick up the para-sites from pasture which hasbeen contaminated by thedogs.

Under current legislation,all dogs must be kept undercontrol in public places. In thetime of landlordism, it wassaid that the poor were struckout of the protection of thelaw, the rich out of its penal-ties.

The landlords are gone buttheir despicable attitude pre-vails very evidently in thehunting fraternity.

Hunting hounds: Dangerous not only to wildlife butalso to pets, farm animals - and humans.

FURTHER DEER DEATHDETAILS UNCOVERED

MORE disturbing detailshave emerged about thedeaths of two deer huntedby the Ward Union.

Documents obtained byICABS include statementsfrom a vet who was present atsome of the hunts. His descrip-tion of two particular incidentsprovide a sickening account ofthe fate of the deer.

In a report sub-mitted to theNational Parksand WildlifeService, the vetrefers to a WardUnion hunt inScurlogstown inCounty Meathduring the 2006-07 season. Hereveals that adeer “died as aresult of ‘dry drowning’ havingfallen into a quarry.” Thisshocking incident obviouslyoccurred as the creature wasdesperately trying to stayahead of the pack of houndsand Ward Union riders.

The vet mentioned otherdeer that suffered injuries dur-ing the season. Five had“slight lameness” and two had“skin abrasions”, he said.

In another report dealingwith the 2004-05 season (alsoobtained by ICABS), detailsare provided about an unfortu-nate deer that dropped deadafter trying to escape over ahigh wall. The deer was eightyears old and was hunted forapproximately one and a half

“The stag was held forapproximately five minutes bythe handlers as they waited forthe deer cart to arrive, follow-ing which he suddenlydropped dead ... The cause ofdeath was due to a rupturedaorta.”

Incredibly, the hunters werepraised in the report for liftingthe dead deer “in a dignifiedmanner” through the side gateof the garden and into the deercart.

hours, according to the docu-ment. What follows is the har-rowing account of the deer’sfinal minutes of life...

“At 15.25, the stagapproached a walled gardenattached to a semi-detachedcottage in a cul-de-sac nearRinglestown, Kilmessan, CoMeath.

“At this point the stag, whichwas not beingpursued, jumpedover a 5 foot inheight wall intothe cottage gar-den, followingwhich 3 nominat-ed handlersentered the gar-den through aside gate. Thestag, in full view oftwo of the han-

dlers then attempted to escapefrom the garden by attemptingunsuccessfully to scale a high-er wall (approximately 8-9 feethigh) before being captured onhis feet by the three nominatedhandlers...

A WARD Union deer waschoked to death in a wood,the Irish Farmers Journalhas revealed. The deathoccurred at the end of ahunt and is one of the fatal-ities caused by the WardUnion “over the last fewyears”, the newspaperreported.

ICABS is trying to establishwhen exactly this incidenttook place and if it is yetanother instance of a deerbeing choked.

The last known choking tookplace a decade ago during the1997/98 season. A report fromthe Department of Agriculturestated that that deer waschoked while being capturedby hunt members.

Ward Uniondeer chokedin woodland

ICABS HAS thanked SenatorIvana Bacik for supportingour campaign for a ban ondeer hunting.

“I am asking you to refuse alicence to the Ward Union deerhunt,” she stated in a letter toMinister John Gormley. “TheIrish Council Against BloodSports are mounting a cam-paign against this, which I sup-port.”

Senator Bacik is the ReidProfessor of Criminal Law,Criminology and Penology atTrinity College (previously heldby Presidents Mary Robinsonand Mary McAleese).

Senator Bacikbacks WU ban

A SUBMISSION made byICABS to the Department ofAgriculture has called forthe new Animal Health &Welfare Bill to completelyban blood sports activities.

Our comprehensive submis-sion covered hare coursing,fox hunting, carted deer hunt-ing, mink hunting, ferreting,terrierwork, the blooding ofhounds, earthstopping andsnaring.

In our 27-page presentation,we emphasised the need forall animals to be given equalprotection and expressedconcern about theDepartment’s stated intentionto provide for “differentiatedlevels of welfare for farmedanimals, protected animalsand all animals”.

“It is our contention that allanimals - domestic or wild -should receive full and equalprotection from ‘needless painor unnecessary suffering’ onthe basis that all are sentientcreatures and all should beprotected from cruelty andunnecessary suffering,” westated.

“If there are to be differenti-ated levels of welfare, withfarmed animals receiving thehighest level, this would be aretrograde step - the existing1911 Protection of AnimalsAct does not discriminateamong farmed and other

domestic animals as regardsthe level of protection fromsuffering they should receive.”

ICABS welcomed the statedintention of the new act to pro-hibit “potentially cruel activi-ties involving animals” and tomake it an offence to beinvolved in such activities.

“As regards ‘potentiallycruel activities involving ani-mals’, we would welcome

such a provision, and wouldcall for all blood sports activi-ties to be included, i.e. hunt-ing of wild animals with dogs -hare hunting and coursing;fox hunting with dogs; minkhunting with dogs and thehunting of domestic deer(Ward Union) as these activi-ties involve the infliction ofunnecessary suffering on thehunted animal.’

Submission callsfor multiple bans

Wexford foxes were“brutally assaulted” THE STAR newspaper hasrevealed that two foxeswere dug out of their denand “brutally assaulted” inFethard-on-Sea, Wexford.

A local woman said that,prior to the grim discovery,she saw two men from a redcar walking close the denswith four dogs. ICABS hasurged anyone with informa-tion to contact the WexfordGardai on 053-916 5200.

The Star (March 31, 2008)reported that the mangledremains of the unfortunatefoxes were found by thewoman while she was outwalking.

“I went for a walk and this iswhat I came across - twofoxes just on the ground a fewmetres away from their hole,”

she was quoted as saying.“They were absolutely brutallyassaulted. It must have beena long, slow death.”

Digging out and the use ofterriers is one of the mostcruel and heartless assaultson the fox species in Ireland.It is carried out not only bycold, heartless individualswho enjoy seeing animals suf-fer but also by thugsemployed by registered fox-hunts.

ICABS has brought this lat-est assault on our wildlife tothe attention of theDepartment of Agriculture andstressed the desperate needfor foxes to be given protec-tion under the new animalwelfare legislation and thoseguilty of animal cruelty to begiven major penalties.

Page 37

Sickened hunter callsfor life ban on 2 huntsA HUNTER who says he sawfoxes dug out of their earthwith spades and bars is call-ing for “a life ban” on twohunts.

Quoted in the Avondhu news-paper, the long-time hunt sup-porter said he was “sickened tothe core” to witness the scene.He has also alleged that a cap-tive fox was released from abag in front of hounds and thatmembers of the Ormond andAvondhu hunts were “implicit inthis act of barbarism”.

Following a call from ICABS,the incident is being investigat-ed by the Gardai in Fermoy.

The Avondhu newspapersays it was contacted by thesickened hunting enthusiastwho “described how a group ofmen dug foxes out of theirunderground hiding place withspades and bars, subsequentlykilling them”.

The hunter brands diggingout as being contrary to “the

good sport” to leave foxesalone once they have outwittedthe hounds and escapedunderground.

However, digging out is com-monplace during Irish huntsand acknowledged by the IrishMasters of Foxhounds Assoc-iation: “Digging shall only beconducted by a small numberof experienced people,” theystate in a so-called code of con-duct. “Reasonable efforts shallbe made to ensure that diggingout will not become a publicspectacle.”

“It goes against my grain toreport this but these huntsdeserve to be exposed and theactions of the IMFHA need tobe questioned,” the quotedsource told the Avondhu. “Ithought bagged foxes were arelic of darker times and con-signed to the history books.The gentlemen of the Avondhuand Ormond Hunts are stuck inthe past and their actions will

only hasten the demise of fox-hunting in Ireland.”

“The anti foxhunting brigadecan hang up their boots,” headded. “Foxhunting will end asa result of the actions of its ownfollowers.”

Although unlawful to releasea captive animal in front ofhounds, ICABS believes thatthis may be commonplace.Bagged foxes are releasedwhen hounds fail to find thescent of a fox in the wild.

In a separate report in theNenagh Guardian, it is sug-gested that the alleged incidentcame to light only after com-plaints were made by visitinghunters from the UK.

In a submission to theDepartment of Agriculture,ICABS has demanded a totalban on foxhunting and all formsof digging out and terrierwork.

MEP supportscalls for bansIRISH MEP, Kathy Sinnott, hasjoined the calls for a ban onhare coursing and carted deerhunting. In a letter to Minister,John Gormley, Ms Sinnottasked for an end to “this terri-ble practice of animal abuse”.

“I support the call by the IrishCouncil Against Blood Sports foryou to refuse licences for theIrish Coursing Club and the WardUnion carted deer hunt,” shestated.

ICABS has thanked KathySinnott for her support.

A fox is thrown into a bag after being dug out of the groundduring an Irish hunt. The animal was later thrown to the pack

Terror as huntersinvade farm yard

bringing something in fromthe open road on to some-body’s land. That doesn’tseem to affect the hunts at all.There’s also the protocol ofgoing on to private property -you seek permission. You’retrying to draw a comparisonbetween anglers and hunts-men on horseback [but] I’munlikely to come around thecorner of a farmyard at 30miles an hour brandishing afishing rod and telling some-one to f*** off, crossing theirland.”

Admitting that they hadmade a mis-t a k e ,D u h a l l o wHunt chair-man, PatF l e m i n g ,a p o l o g i s e d

for the hunters coming intothe farm yard, saying “I’vealready apologised and I’llapologise again for that.”Retorted Derek Davis: “It

private farm in a private area.We should be entitled to thatprivacy.”

She also told of how herfear for the safety of the chil-dren prompted her to lobstones into the air to try anddivert the hunters away fromthe yard. She insisted that shewas aiming to miss the horsesbut, regardless, one of themen on horseback gave herthis abusive response: “if thatf***ing stone hits my horse, I’llput that f***ing stone straightthrough your window.”

A hunting spokesperson

agreed with a statement byDerek Davis that “at a timewhen hunting is under huge

A 6-YEAR-OLD boy was lefthysterical and screaming interror as Ireland’s oldesthunt came thunderingthrough a farmyard inCounty Cork.

The boy’s mother told RTE’sLiveline programme that shefeared for her children’s safe-ty and roared at the hunters toget out.

Speaking to presenterDerek Davis, Margo O’Keeffedescribed how mountedhunters “came within threeyards of the concrete yardwhere my kids were playing”.

“[Me and myaunt] went outobviously -because my chil-dren were outthere and I want-ed to protect mychildren - and we started roar-ing at them to get out of there,they had no permission,” she

The hunters “came within threeyards of where my kids were

playing...My son was hysterical”

pressure from the anti-bloodsports lobby, you need all thefriends you can possibly getand that behaving like theseventh cavalry isn’t the wayto do it.”

Derek went on to questionthe general disregard thathunters have for private land.“There is, amongst anglers, aprotocol about going on otherpeople’s lands, about sterilis-ing boots (where requested)and fishing tackle before

added. “They were so close tome that there were spatters ofmuck on my clothes. I wasshouting at my children tostay behind me. My son washysterical; he was runningaround the yard and I wasshouting at him to get into thehouse.”

The aunt expressed herupset at the incident. “I wasvery upset and very angry,”she said. “It was the fact thatthis was an invasion [into] a

would have been nice ifsomebody on the day hadapologised.”

According to the IMFHAwebsite, Duhallow hunters“maintain the best possiblerelations with...the generalpublic”!

ICABS has brought this inci-dents to the attention of thegovernment and renewed ourappeal for hunting withhounds to be banned.

A FOX had to endure a gru-elling 80 minute chase dur-ing a hunt in CountyGalway, according to anIrish Field report.

“As soon as [the huntsman]cast his pack in Pump Bog,they found a fox and wereaway for what was to be a runof one hour and twenty min-utes,” the report stated,adding that the hunt terrierwas among the dogs chasingthe unfortunate fox.

The report on the GrallaghHarriers suggests that thisparticular fox managed to getaway but it’s more than likelythat the creature was in a poorstate afterwards.

Research has shown thatfoxes chased by hounds suf-fer internal injuries, leavingthem at risk of dying even ifthey eventually escape.

Please urgently appeal toMinister for Agriculture,Brendan Smith, andMinister of State, TrevorSargent, to protect foxesunder the new animal wel-fare legislation.

Minister Brendan SmithDepartment of Agriculture

Agriculture House,Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

Email: [email protected]: 01-607 2000

Trevor Sargent, [email protected]

Tel: 01-6183465Fax: 01-8900361

ACTION ALERT

Galway fox chased for80 minutes by hunters

A fox runs for its life duringa foxhunt in County Galway.Photo: banfoxandstaghunt-

ingcrueltyireland.com

Captivating viewing for all the family

If you’ve missed it at the cinema, do look out for the captivating The Fox and the Child onDVD. Oscar-winning director Luc Jacquet (March of the Penguins) says of the film: “It is

our hope to reveal the wonder of nature that surrounds us every day.” This special releasebeautifully achieves that and will undoubtedly help win many new friends for the red fox!

Noel Treacy asked to stoppandering to foxhunters

Download our newanti-hunt posters

THE IRISH Council AgainstBlood Sports has called onGalway TD, Noel Treacy, TDto stop pandering tohunters and “respect theoverwhelming wishes of theelectorate and commit tosafeguarding our wildlifeheritage”.

Our call comes following anarticle in the GalwayIndependent which outlinedhow Deputy Treacyaddressed hunters at a meet-ing in Ballinasloe earlier thisyear.

“When I was in charge of theWildlife Service, I got constantletters from the Irish CouncilAgainst Blood Sports to banhunting and only ever got oneletter pro-hunting,” he wasquoted as saying.

The former Minister of State

ICABS IS urging landownersto show compassion for ourwildlife heritage by closingproperty to those involved inblood sports.

If you are a farmer or coun-tryside landowner, pleasedownload our new "NoHunters, No Hounds" and“Hare Sanctuary” posters.

Simply print, laminate anddisplay along your propertyboundaries to send a clear

message to local hunters thatyour land is strictly off-limits.

If you have friends and fam-ily who own land, please printcopies of the poster and dis-tribute them.

The posters, along with aselection of others, can befreely downloaded from theICABS website at banblood-sports.com. Simply click onFarmers and scroll down to“No Hunting” signs.

SHOW YOUR support for aban on blood sports.Purchase one of the newICABS badges today andhelp raise funds for our cam-paign.

Displaying our websiteaddress, these cool 28mmbadges cost just �1 each(including postage and pack-aging to anywhere in theworld). Order at our onlineshop or from the usual postaladdress.

Ask Noel Treacy, TD to stopstanding up for animal cru-elty. Remind him that amajority want blood sportsbanned.

Noel Treacy, TDAthenry, Co. Galway

[email protected]: 091-844360Fax: 091-844360

ACTION ALERT

suggested that this could be acase of complacency on thepart of the blood sport enthu-siasts.

In a letter to the editor pub-lished in March, ICABS statedthat the more likely explana-tion for Deputy Treacy’s anti-blood sports postbag toweringover a solitary letter is that amassive majority in this coun-try want a ban on activitiesinvolving animal cruelty.

“Most agree that it’s totallyunacceptable to unleash apack of hounds to chase a foxfor hours before ripping it tobits,” we commented.

“This has been confirmed bythe latest Millward Brownopinion poll which found thataround two out of every threeIrish adults want the govern-ment to outlaw foxhunting.”

Noel Treacy, TD: Spokein favour of foxhunting

BUY ABADGE

Page 35

“The Green Party would beanti-bloodsports and I think[Minister Gormley] is doing allhe can at the moment. It isvery likely that there will be amuch bigger clampdown nextyear and that would be what Ihope will happen.” (GreenParty councillor NiallO’Brolchain, Galway Indepen-dent - 12th Sept 2007)

“This government is allocat-ing 76 million Euro to theHorse and Greyhound RacingFund while giving less thanthat, 64 million Euro, to theDrugs Initiatives and YoungPeople’s Facilities Fund. Thisis unacceptable.” (DonegalSinn Fein Senator, PearseDoherty, in a Donegal Newsreport about how the county’sdrugs squad has been left withjust one part-time officer - 1stFebruary, 2008)

“We were digging out the foxwith the farmer’s permissionand hounds that were tooclose to the foxhole brokeloose and got hold of the ani-mal.” (Hunting spokesperson,Brian Munn, reports on how afox was killed by hounds afterbeing dug out of the groundduring a Westmeath Fox-hounds hunt, WestmeathExaminer, 23rd February2008)

“There is no evidence of thishappening, there is no photo-graph.” A Westmeath Huntemployee insisting that thereis no evidence to prove that afox was dug out of its den, tiedup and fed alive to houndsduring a hunt. (IrishIndependent, 20th December,2007)

Hare found withbleeding leg atcoursing meet

ICABS HAS learned that ahare with a bleeding leg wasdiscovered by a NationalParks and Wildlife Serviceranger at a coursing meet-ing in Balbriggan lastNovember.

According to a documentobtained by ICABS, a rangeralso reported hearing hares“crying out” while being han-dled at the meeting.

The NPWS Memo revealsthat “at the boxingstage, it was notedthat one of thehares was bleed-ing from its hindleg” and adds thatafter being seen bya vet, the animalwas considered unsuitable forcoursing.

“The dog held the hare in theair,” the ranger states. “Afterthe intervention of 2 coursingmen the hare got away andran into the escape hatch.”[ICABS note: It is very likelythat this hare sustained seri-ous internal injuries]

Reporting on observationsmade at the Balbriggan andTrim coursing meetings, thisranger goes on to highlight thecoursing-related stress caused

to hares.

“At bothmeetings, the oddhare will cry outwhile being han-dled when the eartag is being identi-fied, causing more

stress to the animal. This is thefirst year I have heard hares

“This is thefirst year Ihave heard

hares crying”

Another hare was seen bythe club’s vet after it was hit bytwo greyhounds. The rangeroutlines that, the following day,he was “shown two deadhares - including the animalthat was seen by the vet theprevious day”. It is unclear ifthis includes the hare with thebleeding leg.

A second ranger present atBalbriggan described how “athird dog slipped on to thepitch and resulted in 3 dogschasing the hare.” Anotherhare was pinned to the groundafter the muzzle of a grey-hound “seemed to loosen”.

crying out.”

The ranger also highlightshow coursers attempt to hidethe suffering caused to hares,saying that “I have noticed atseveral meetings downthrough the years that if thedogs hit and pin the hare, theguy on the horse always getsin front of the ranger to preventus from seeing what is hap-pening.”

ICABS has brought theseadditional examples of cours-ing cruelty to the attention ofMinister John Gormley anddemanded a total ban on theblood sport.

“Hounds eventually got a fox toleave, running to the nearbysmaller plantation he got toground in a rabbit hole. Boltingfrom the strong mark, thehounds caught him on top aftera short run.” (from a report onthe White Heather Harriers'meeting at Clonacody, Tipper-ary Voice - 5th February 2008)

“The Ormond Foxhounds inNorth Tipperary is at the centreof an investigation into com-plaints of cruelty to a fox, it wasreported last week. The IrishCouncil Against Blood Sportshas called for a Garda investi-gation into the alleged inci-dents which occurred in NorthCork earlier this month.” (fromOrmond Foxhounds underinvestigation, NenaghGuardian - 5th April 2008)

“A High Court judge grantedan injunction to the [WardUnion] removing the conditionson its licence pending a fullhearing of a separate judicialreview hearing. The High Courtdecision allowed 42 riders tohead out yesterday, WardUnion hunt secretary DeclanBrooks confirmed, while a fur-ther 100 or so peoplewatched.” (Irish Independent,23rd February 2008)

“I hate hunting. I had a res-cue fox cub as a kid; the localhunt had killed its mother. Butwe got the cub from them, hisname was Sparky. He onlylived a short while as thehunters had injured him somuch.” (comment left on theICABS Bebo page atwww.bebo.com/banblood-sports - 10th February 2008)

THEY'VE been condemnedby animal welfare groups,farmers, landowners, motor-ists, parents and household-ers. Now the Ward Union arebeing slammed by hunterswho describe carted deerhunting as "idiotism", "hor-rible" and "sick".

The comments were made inresponse to a video on theICABS Youtube Channel whichshows the cruelty of carteddeer hunting. Among the feed-back are the following com-ments from hunters:

"What the heck is wrong withthose people - I hunt and thatis the most horrible thing that Ihave ever seen."

"It's ass****s like you [WardUnion] who give real hunters

like myself the negative public-ity that we try so hard toavoid!!!"

"I'm from Canada and I huntdeer - even to me this is sicks**t. There is no sport in this!"

"I'm a hunter but this is idio-tism. Poor deer."

"I'm an avid big game hunterin B.C. [Canada] but that does-n't look like fun or fair chase."

"I am pro-hunting but thisvideo made me sick. The peo-ple who follow this hunt obvi-ously don't care for animals orthe countryside. There is nopoint in hunting a carted stag.If it is a jolly across the coun-tryside you want, then go draghunting."

HUNTERS DISGUSTEDAT �SICK� DEER HUNT

ICABS launches newonline video channels

THE IRISH Council AgainstBlood Sports is excited toannounce the launch of ournew online video channels.

ICABS TV1 provides a con-tinuous stream of campaignvideos, wildlife footage, actionalerts and other animal-relatedpresentations and will helpbring our issues to an evenwider audience.

The ever-growing scheduleincludes the entire content ofour Youtube channel which, weare pleased to report, has beenviewed nearly half a milliontimes in total.

Ban Bullfighting TV, mean-while, focuses exclusively onthe cruelty of the corrida andfeatures ICABS action alerts.

Our video presentations havehelped achieve massiveadvances in the levels ofawareness surrounding bloodsport cruelty.

The overwhelming responsehas not only been one of dis-gust but also disbelief that suchanimal abuse continues to beallowed.

To tune in to our channels,please click on Videos atwww.banbloodsports.com

ICABS HAS welcomed theIFA president’s shunning ofa pro-hunting seminar heldin Dublin in August.

Criticising the organisers forpresenting him as a speakerat the event, Padraig Walshestated: “The organisers haveused my name in a totallyinappropriate way to promotetheir own agenda. I will notallow my name or the IFA tobe hijacked in this way. Therewill be no IFA participation inthis event.”

A brochure for the“Consumer Intimidation, theVegan/Animal Rights Agenda”seminar listed PadraigWalshe as one of threescheduled speakers but the

Irish Farmers Associationpresident denied that he hadagreed to take part.

In an IFA statement issuedto the Irish Times, Mr Walshesaid his name had been usedin relation to the event withoutpermission. “I am very dissat-isfied about this,” he said.

Quoted in the Times, eventorganiser, Gavin Duffy of theHunting Association ofIreland, apologised to the IFApresident: “ApparentlyPadraig Walshe now feels hecannot attend the event andsays his name was used inap-propriately. If this is his view ofevents, I apologise unre-servedly. It was never my[intention] to cause any

embarrassment to Padraig orthe IFA in inviting him to rep-resent Irish live exporters.”

In a letter to PadraigWalshe, ICABS welcomed hisdecision to avoid the event.“Every hunting season, Irishfarmers are plagued byhunters coming on to theirland disturbing livestock,damaging pastures andboundaries and posing a seri-ous threat to biosecurity,” westated. “It is very fitting thatthe IFA stays away from pro-hunt events.”

We also renewed ourappeal to the IFA to stopencouraging blood sportsenthusiasts to join its IFACountryside scheme. The IFACountryside website acknowl-edges that “the Irish country-side is a great nationalresource which Irish farmerswork hard to maintain andenhance” but goes on to out-line how the scheme is opento those with “an interestin...field sport activities”.

“Surely, the IFA would agreethat its primary duty is to itscore farming supporters andnot to a minority who pose athreat to biosecurity, causeinconvenience and anguish tolandowners and endangerlivelihoods,” we commented.

“We hope that the IFA willact to ensure that its policy ofputting farmers first extendsto the IFA Countryside.”

IFA president shunspro-hunting seminar

Clonmel mayor asked tostop coursing support

THE MAYOR of Clonmelhas been asked to considerthe cruelty of coursing andstop supporting the bloodsport.

The call comes after theProgressive Democrats coun-cillor was pictured in a paperat the town’s coursing finals.

In a letter to Mayor RichieMolloy, ICABS expressed dis-appointment that he deemedit appropriate to attend theevent.

"Considering the animal

cruelty involved in coursingand the fact that a hugemajority of Irish people wantthis blood sport banned, wehope that you can reconsideryour stance," we stated.

Please join our appeal toMayor Richie Molloy to rid histown of this shameful animalcruelty festival. You can con-tact him at: Clonmel TownCouncil, Clonmel, CoTipperary. Email: [email protected]: 052-29362 or 086-1967482.

Wildlife watching: Ted relives memoriesof vulpine pal, Basil, and below Tedcatching up with Basil at mealtime.

MEET Ted, a cool snowy cat from CountyGalway who’s missing the fox he madefriends with during the summer.

GALWAY CAT RELIVESFOND FOX MEMORIES

HOTEL reservations compa-ny, CentralR, has been askedby the Irish Council AgainstBlood Sports to stop publi-cising foxhunting.

In an entry for Ballinasloe’sCarlton Shearwater Hotel, thefirm’s website presents foxhunt-ing as one of the local “leisurepursuits”.

ICABS has provided CentralRwith photos showing the barbar-ity of foxhunting and comment-ed that “most visitors to yoursite would find the publicisationof foxhunting to be offensive.”

The hotel has also beenasked to act to ensure that fox-hunting is removed from its list-ing.

Hotel asked to drop foxhuntingUPDATE: Hotel reservations

company, CentralR, has beenthanked for removing a refer-

ence to foxhunting from its web-site. The blood sport had been

listed as a local "leisure pursuit"in an entry for a hotel but afteran Irish Council Against BloodSports appeal, the reference

was removed.

ACTION ALERT

This cute snapshotshows Ted captivatedby a wildlife show andreliving fond memoriesof Basil, the fox he onceshared bowls of catfood with in the garden.

Muriel Hayden ofAthenry’s CuddlesCattery says that Basilvisited for a couple ofmonths but hasn’t beenseen since August.

“I still see foxes fromtime to time but none sotame as Basil,” she toldICABS. “I really misshis twice-daily visits.”

“There is so muchignorance about foxes,”she adds. “Some peo-ple think that a foxwould probably attack acat but my photos dis-prove that theory!”

“I felt privileged tohave had the companyof Basil,” Muriel says. “Irun a cattery andalways have leftover catfood, which he seemedto enjoy. He would fol-low me as I worked andwhen I was in the gar-den he acted very like adog, wrapping himselfaround my legs.”

Page 33

Hunt literatureremoved fromtourist offices

IN THE last edition of AnimalVoice, we asked you toappeal to East & MidlandsTourism to stop publicisinghunting in its “EquestrianHolidays” literature.

Thank you to everyone whoresponded. We are happy toreport that the Failte Ireland-affiliated body has confirmedthat they “have removed anyliterature promoting huntingfrom the shelves of our touristinformation offices.”

ICABS greatly welcomes thispositive response whichmeans that hunting will nolonger be publicised by thebody in Kildare, Louth, Laois,Longford, Meath, North Offaly,Westmeath and Wicklow.

SWISS GREENSIN APPEAL TOIRISH GREENS

THE GREEN Party inSwitzerland took time outfrom its pre-election cam-paigning in August 2007 toconvey a message of sup-port to ICABS.

Vice General Secretary,Miriam Behrens, announcedthat “the Swiss Greens fullysupport your position” andasked us to convey to IrishGreen Party Minister, JohnGormley, their desire to seeblood sports licences refusedhere.

ICABS has thanked theSwiss Greens for this supportand have conveyed their mes-sage to Minister Gormley andthe other Green Party TDs.

Garda wildlifeunit requested

ICABS HAS urged the Gardaito establish a special unit totackle illegal blood sports likecockfighting, badger baitingand dog fighting. In a letter toGarda Commissioner, NoelConroy, we said that such aunit could alleviate cruelty.

“There is much animal suffer-ing in Ireland - both from legaland illegal activities,” we stated.“A high profile Garda unit couldcombat the illegal aspect. Suchunits have proved popular inother jurisdictions as they facili-tate priority reporting of animal-related crimes.”

A WARD Union deer waschased on to a “busy publicroad” with “many vehiclesgoing in both directions”,ICABS was horrified tolearn.

Revealed in a documentobtained under the Freedomof Information Act, it’s yetanother worrying incidentinvolving the hunt coming onto main roads.

“As the hunt was close tofinishing, the stag headed inthe direction of Agher Cross,Summerhill, County Meath,where the huntsman, masterand followers and some of thehounds were held up in a fieldsurrounded by secure wirefencing.” the document saysof the incident which, webelieve, occurred during the2004/05 season. “The delayin the hunt’s exit from thisfield, by way of looking foralternative exits and subse-quently cutting wire, allowedthe stag to continue onwardsand away from the hunt alongthe road, followed by 16hounds for several minutes.”

The report outlines how itwas members of the hunt whowere following along on theroad in a 4-wheel-drive whoeventually caught up with thefleeing animal.

“As soon as they observedthe stag and hounds detachedfrom the main hunt and on thepublic road, they called off the

pursuing hounds and caughtthe stag with the aid of anoth-er nominated deer handler,” itstates, adding that “despitethe busy road, with manyvehicles going in both direc-tion, this procedure was car-ried out with a minimum offuss.”

ICABS can only imagine theterror experienced by thisdeer as it contended withhounds, hunters and traffic inits desperate effort to escape.

ICABS brought the incidentto the attention of the RoadSafety Authority, the GardaCommissioner, the RoadSafety Officer of MeathCouncil and the Minister forTransport. We are asking allof them to urgently act in theinterests of public safety.

Deer chased onto �busy road�

Irish Department claims killing here is “inevitable”IN JULY, as the UKDepartment of theEnvironment scrapped con-troversial plans for a badgercull, the office of Ireland’sEnvironment Minister wasmaintaining that the massslaughter of badgers here is“inevitable”.

“Minister John Gormleywould like to see a situationwhere no badgers are snared,”a spokesperson told ICABS inan email, adding that “unfortu-nately for the time being it isinevitable.”

The spokesperson admittedthat “it has never been demon-strated that an individual badg-er gave TB to an individualcow” but claimed “there is anoverwhelming statistical casethat badgers spread TB to cat-tle” and that “there is also anoverwhelming case that cullingof the worst affected popula-tions greatly reduces the TB.”

This is in stark contrast to astatement made by the UK’sEnvironment Secretary, HilaryBenn, that culling badgersactually makes things worse.

In a speech to the House ofCommons on July 7th, MrBenn stated: “Bovine TB istransmitted between cattle,and between cattle and badg-ers. But what has dominateddebate is whether badgerculling could be effective incontrolling the disease. Theten year Randomised BadgerCulling Trial culled some11,000 badgers to discoverwhat impact it would have.

“The ISG’s final report, pub-lished last year, concluded thatreactive culling – killing badg-ers in areas where there hadbeen local TB breakdowns -made the problem worse, andthat proactive culling – takingan area of about 100 squarekilometres and repeatedly

culling badgers over a numberof years - only produced mar-ginal benefits becausealthough TB was reduced inthe area, it increased outsidebecause of the disturbanceand movement of badgers.”

ICABS has repeatedly calledon the Department ofAgriculture here to call a halt tothe killing which has alreadyleft over 50,000 badgers dead.Our appeal to MinisterGormley to stop issuing badgersnaring licences continues.

UK SCRAPS PLANS FORMAJOR BADGER CULL

Remind Minister Gormleythat the Wildlife Act, forwhich he is responsible,lists the badger as a pro-tected species. Demandthat he stops licensing thekilling of badgers as part ofa cruel and discredited TBeradication scheme.

Minister John GormleyDept of the Environment,Custom House, Dublin 1.


Please appeal to theMinister for Agriculture,Brendan Smith, to showcompassion and suspendthe cruel badger snaring.

Minister Brendan SmithDepartment of AgricultureKildare Street, Dublin 2.

Email: [email protected]. Tel: 01-607 2000 or

Locall 1890-200510.

ACTION ALERT

View all ICABSvideos on yourmobile phone

THANKS TO YoutubeMobile, millions more peo-ple are now be able to wit-ness the cruelty of bloodsports in Ireland.

Anyone with a compatiblemobile phone which supportsRTSP streaming can view theICABS videos by accessing:http://m.youtube.com/icabs

Please note that while thevideos are free to view, youwill be charged by your serv-ice provider based on theamount of data downloaded.

Always remember to checkrates before viewing videoson your phone.

All the videos may also beviewed online atwww.youtube.com/icabs or byclicking on Videos atwww.banbloodsports.com

BEAGLERS have been toldto assume that in the future,there will be no furtherextensions to their huntseason.

This very much welcomeddevelopment was revealed inMay in a letter fromEnvironment Minister, JohnGormley’s office.

In previous years, beaglershave been allowed to stretchtheir hare persecution into themonth of March but Minister

expected,” the letter con-cludes. “This is incompatiblewith Ireland’s responsibilitiesunder Irish and EU Wildlifelegislation.”

Hare hunting is a low profileblood sport in which hares diehorrendous deaths. Chasedto exhaustion, they are rippedapart by packs of dogs.

A Dublin motorist who wit-nessed such a kill describedwhat remained after the dogsattacked the hare - “a tinypiece of fur blowing in thebreeze.”

In Ireland, there are 129harrier packs, which hunt bothhares and foxes, while thereare 22 registered beaglepacks hunting hares.

While they have been pre-vented from terrorising haresfor an additional month, theycontinue to be free to hunt upto the end of February (withno licence being required)despite the fact that hares aredesignated a highly protectedspecies.

Gormley this year turneddown the latest applicationfrom the Irish Masters ofBeagles Association.

“The Department, in granti-ng the licence for 2007,advised the Association thatfor conservation reasonslicenses to permit the huntingof hares with beagles beyondthe general open season forthe species may not, in futureyears be granted, as thisimpinged on the breedingseason of the hares,” the cor-respondence from theMinister’s office outlines.

“It was also stated that inplanning the calendar forfuture years the Associationshould work on the assump-tion that all beagling eventsshould be scheduled withinthe standard open season forhares which finishes at theend of February.”

The Department says thatits decision was reached “fol-lowing discussions with therelevant regional, administra-tive and scientific staff of theNational Parks and WildlifeService”. Officials took intoaccount the results of therecently completed NationalHare Survey which makes itclear that hare numbers canfluctuate dramatically fromyear to year.

“Where hunting is allowed toextend into the breeding sea-son, and this coincides withperiods of low population,local extinctions can be

Season extensions ended,Minister informs beaglers

Please join our appeal toMinister Gormley to fullyprotect the Irish Hare byimplementing a total,year-round ban on hunt-ing and coursing.

Minister John GormleyDept of the Environment,Custom House, Dublin 1.

Email: [email protected]: 01 888 2403.

ACTION ALERT

MEP is �odd man out� incruel seal hunt support

GALWAY MEP, Sean ONeachtain, has beendescribed as “very muchthe odd man out” for back-ing Canada’s barbaric sealhunters.

The Fianna Fail MEP (pic-tured right) sparked outrage inFebruary after he declared: “Iwill be supporting the sealhunters”.

Mr O Neachtain’s bizarrestance has been condemnedby animal welfare groupsacross Ireland.

In a letter to the politician,

paper has branded Mr ONeachtain as “very much theodd man out in the EuropeanParliament - perhaps the loneEU parliamentarian leadingthe fight against a ban onimported Canadian seal prod-ucts”.

Highlighting a video of Mr ONeachtain coming out infavour of the mercilesshunters, the paper stated: “Heis defending Canada’s sealhunt, despite the fact that themajority of his 784 parliamen-tary colleagues are calling forthe hunt to be banned.”

ICABS criticised his lack ofcompassion towards thelargest slaughter of marinemammals in the world.

Canada’s Telegram news-

Tell RTE to keep crueltyout of its sports reports. Ifyou are a licence feepayer, make this known inyour correspondence.

RTE, Donnybrook, Dublin 4.Email: [email protected]: 01 208 3111.

ACTION ALERT

RTE urged to dropcoursing as sport

Coursing banextended - NI

ICABS HAS urged RTE tostop presenting cruelty as“sport” after the station fea-tured coursing in a radiosports report in February.

In our complaint, we outlinedthat "many would struggle tocomprehend how sport couldever encompass an activitybased on greyhounds chasinghares and causing themstress, injury and sometimesdeath."

Responding to our appeal, aspokesperson for RTE saidthat the station "neitherapproves nor disapproves ofcoursing". He tried to defendthe coverage on the basis thatcoursing remains legal.

ICABS stressed that amajority of Irish people (andpresumably, therefore, licencefee payers) want coursing out-lawed.

They would find the portrayalof animal cruelty as a sport tobe highly offensive and inap-propriate, we said.

ICABS HAS welcomed thenews that a ban on all formsof hare persecution hasbeen extended in NorthernIreland until March 2009.

The North's EnvironmentMinister, Sammy Wilson(whose interests include ani-mals and birds) made themove amid fears for "the sta-bility and sustainability of thehare population".

We have appealed toMinister John Gormley to fol-low Minister Wilson’s com-mendable example and givefull protection to the hares inthe Republic.

Hare persecution has nowbeen prohibited in NorthernIreland since 2003.

Page 31

SAVE THE RABBITSPlease join our urgent call for ferreting ban

ICABS has called for anurgent ban on ferreting aftera newspaper article high-lighted how the horrificactivity leaves rabbits blind-ed.

Ferreting involves sending aferret down a burrow to traprabbits. The rabbits are eitherchased out of the hole andinto nets or viciouslygripped in place bythe ferret while ahunter digs awaythe earth fromabove them.

The following isa ferreter’s first-hand description ofthe activity published inthe Westmeath Topic ofMarch 13th, 2008.

“On a typical day I’d get upat six in the morning while it’s

still dark. People contact me,often lads with greyhounds.These lads would be lookingfor rabbits...I bring my nets,cages, and of course my fer-ret finder. It’s a collar you puton the ferret before he’s sentunderground. It beeps like ametal detector, so you knowwhere he is...

“You have two differ-ent types of hunting

ferret; you havethe ‘eye’ ferretand you havethe ‘brain’ ferret.An eye ferret in a

hole only goes forthe rabbit’s eye - he

blinds him. The ‘brain’ferret, he’ll bite straight

onto the head between theears.”

“The fellas who call me outsometimes use them for teas-ing the greyhound in a thingcalled a ‘rolling cage’ which isa small round cage they putthe rabbit in to tease the dogbefore a race.”

What happens to the trau-matised, and probablyinjured, rabbit next? It is high-ly questionable that grey-hound men suddenly showmercy and release it back tothe wild. It is much more likelythat the rabbit is let out of thecage and used as a live lurefor the greyhounds.

This highly illegal act of“blooding” is thought to becommonplace in the grey-

hound industry. Unscrupulousowners and breeders believethat letting greyhounds tear arabbit asunder will keep themkeen for running on the trackor up a coursing field.

Greyhound scene commen-tator, John Martin, is on recordas saying that “greyhoundracing would not continue toexist without blooding [and] itfollows that, with a constantgreyhound population of closeon 30,000, blooding must bewidespread.”

Writing in the IrishIndependent of January 12th,1994, Mr Martin added: “Donot expect an admission ofthat from Bord na gCon, thecountry’s semi-state grey-hound racing authority. Toconcede the point would be toaccept that they are the custo-dians of a sport whose veryexistence is based on blood-ing.”

Please join us now in call-ing on the Minister forAgriculture to act urgent-ly to end the horrendouspractice of ferreting.

Minister Brendan SmithDepartment of Agriculture

Agriculture House,Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 01-607 2000 or LoCall1890-200510.

ACTION ALERT

October rallyfor animals

TO CO-INCIDE with WorldAnimal Week, a peacefulrally has been organised forDublin on October 5th, 2008.

By attending this event, youcan show your support for allthe animals cruelly abusedand killed in Ireland.

The rally begins at 1.30pmsharp on Sunday, October 5that the Garden of Remem-brance (top of O’ConnellStreet), Dublin. More info atwww.aran.ie

IN THE last edition of AnimalVoice, we reported on ourrenewed appeal for the pub-lic to be on the look-out forshops selling unlawful gluetraps.

Glue traps (also known asglue boards) are one of theworld’s most inhumane traps.Among the victims are mice,rats, small mammals, birdsand pets. In a desperate bid toescape from the sticky base,doomed creatures have beenknown to bite off their ownlimbs.

Thanks to the help of ICABSsupporters around the country,we have identified and report-ed the sale of these cruel trapsin a number of outlets.

We wish to particularlyapplaud the person whobrought to our attention a shopin Leinster which had gluetraps in its window display.

Following an ICABS com-plaint to the National Parksand Wildlife Service (NPWS),the traps were confiscated. Weunderstand from correspon-dence from Minister JohnGormley that a file is nowbeing prepared for the ChiefState Solicitor’s Office recom-mending a prosecution.

In another major success,we were instrumental in theremoval from sale of snares

Please continue to checklocal hardware andbuilder provider stores,discount shops and petsupply outlets to ensurethat glue traps stay offIreland’s shop shelves.

If you spot this, or anyother kind of unlawful trapfor sale, please contactICABS immediately. Also, ifyou are aware of any com-pany using glue traps,please contact us now inconfidence.

ACTION ALERT

and traps from an Irish web-site.

The development was con-firmed in a letter to ICABSVice-President, Deputy TonyGregory from the Minister forthe Environment, JohnGormley.

The Minister stated:“Officials of the NPWS visitedthe premises in question andconfiscated a number of illegaltraps, snares and a quantity ofillegal glue traps. Advertisingfor the traps and snares on thecompany’s website has alsobeen removed.”

“A file is being prepared forthe Chief Solicitors Office rec-ommending a prosecution inthis instance,” MinisterGormley added.

Thank you to everyone whohas helped us in our campaignagainst glue traps.

ICABS action leads toconfiscation of traps

Trap confiscation will helpsave squirrels and otheranimals from cruel death

A HUNT supporter has toldICABS that over the yearshe has “snared hundreds offoxes and killed them with abaseball bat”.

The disturbing admissionwas left as a comment on theICABS Youtube channel andhas been brought to the atten-tion of the Department ofAgriculture.

“I support the hunt and inthe 25 years I’ve been farming

I’ve seen 2 foxes killed [by thehunt],” the anonymous Irishfarmer declared. “But I’vesnared hundreds of foxes andkilled them with a baseballbat.”

ICABS is demanding thatthe new animal welfare legis-lation provides protection forfoxes from this kind of bar-barism. We have called fortougher penalties for thoseconvicted of cruelty.

Hunt supporter’s admission:I kill foxes with baseball bat

A PROTEST outside thenational coursing finals inClonmel has helped high-light the continued cruelty ofhare coursing in Ireland.

A very big thank you to thosewho travelled to Clonmel forthe protest, to those inClonmel who expressed theirsupport and to those who sentus messages of support fromIreland and abroad.

Thank you also to the televi-sion (TV3 and RTE), radio andprint media for helping tospread the message aboutcoursing cruelty and the major-ity view in Ireland that a ban onthis despicable blood sportmust finally be implemented bythe government.

PROTEST HIGHLIGHTSCOURSING CRUELTY

Green fox killingsparks outrage

Wildlife is welcome,golf club confirms

THE SHOOTING of a fox bya Dublin golf club has leftlocals outraged. The fox,which the club claims wasdamaging greens, has beendescribed by neighbours asa magnificent and fascinat-ing creature.

According to a report in theIrish Independent, a womanand her two children were in a"terrible state" after witness-ing the shooting.

ICABS shares the outrageof residents at the killing ofthis fox. We have told MilltownGolf Club that foxes should beviewed as an asset in thatthey add to the character ofthe course and that mostgolfers cherish the sight of

wildlife. We have urged theclub to consider non-lethalmethods if foxes really needto be deterred.

It is heartening to learn thatthose living in Milltown valuethe presence of foxes in theirneighbourhood. Most citizens,both urban and rural, have agenuine appreciation forwildlife and would welcomeincreased protection from thiskind of wanton destruction.

Please join our call for anend to the killing of golf clubfoxes. Contact DenisMcDowell, President, MilltownGolf Club, Lower ChurchtownRoad, Milltown, Dublin 14.Email: [email protected]. Tel: 01-4976090

HERMITAGE Golf Club inLucan, County Dublin hasinformed ICABS that theclub very much welcomeswildlife in the environs of itsparklands.

This comes following claimsby a caller to RTE’s Livelinerecently that he wasemployed to shoot rabbits atthe club.

Not so, says the Hermitage,whose policy is to encouragewildlife and certainly not toeradicate it. Hares and foxesare welcome visitors to theirgreens, they say, and rabbitsare not a problem.

In an email to ICABS inApril, Brendan Delaney,Honorary Secretary of theclub stated: "I can confirm thatit is not club policy to shootany wildlife on Hermitage golfcourse.”

“In fact, we are proud of thenumber of pheasants, foxes,hares, rabbits and squirrelswho inhabit our course,” headded. “We have no agree-ment with, nor has anyoneexpress or other authority toenter our lands for the pur-pose of hunting any of theabove."

ICABS is delighted at thispositive response and wehave thanked the club for clar-ifying the situation.

About Hermitage Golf Club:Founded over a hundred

Lovely shot: Rabbits likethis are welcome, saysHermitage Golf Course.

Check out our “Foxesaround the world” playlistfor some humorous videosof foxes on golf courses -http://tinyurl.com/6krfa8

years ago, the Hermitage liesalongside the River Liffeywithin the famous StrawberryBeds part of the valley.

Among those who haveenjoyed golf at the course areBing Crosby, Prince Rainier,President Hillery, SeveBallesteros, Ian Woosnamand Colin Montgomerie.

Page 29

THE MANAGER of theClonmel Park Hotel inCounty Tipperary has beenasked by ICABS to disasso-ciate from coursing.

In an advert placed in theevent booklet for the 2008coursing finals, the hotelextended a “welcome to allvisitors to the national cours-ing meeting”.

The ad boasted that thehotel is “just 5 minutes drivefrom the coursing grounds”and that a coursing video wasto be shown nightly.

Asking manager, MichaelBoyle, to give a commitmentthat the hotel would disassoci-ate from coursing and ensurethat no further ads are placedin coursing publications,ICABS stressed that “a major-ity of Irish people (and manymillions around the world) areopposed to this horrendousblood sport.”

TESCO CRITICISED FORGREYHOUND PROMO

THE GREYHOUND ActionIreland group has called onTesco to stop promotinggreyhound racing in itsClubcard Deals literature.

The chain is inviting cus-tomers to exchange clubcardpoints for entry discounts intogreyhound stadiums.

Pointing to the “thousands ofdogs who are drugged,injured, mutilated and killed bythe industry worldwide, espe-cially Ireland and the UK”,Greyhound Action hasslammed the promotion.

According to the ISPCA,“approximately 14,000 grey-hounds are ‘disposed of’ inIreland each year.

“They are destroyedbecause they haven’t madethe grade as racing dogs orwhen they are past their bestfor racing (usually by the ageof four),” they outline on theirwebsite.

“Other unwanted dogs aresold to Spain, where they areforced to race in appalling con-ditions, with no veterinarycare.”

If you would like to register acomplaint, the contact detailsare: Tony Keohane, CEO,Tesco Ireland, GreshamHouse, Marine Rd, DunLaoghaire, Co Dublin. Email:[email protected]. Tel:1850 744 844.

Hotel asked todisassociate

from coursing

Ask the Clonmel ParkHotel to give a commit-ment that no furtheradverts will be placed incoursing publicationsand that coursing videoswill not be shown at thehotel again.

Michael Boyle, ManagerClonmel Park Hotel

Clonmel, Co. TipperaryEmail: michaelboyle

@clonmelparkhotel.comTel: 052-88700

ACTION ALERT

ICABS HAS welcomed astatement from the Bishopof Killaloe, Willie Walsh, inwhich he advocates “mercy,kindness and love towardsall God’s creatures”.

The bishop was respondingto an email from ICABS inwhich we called for the bish-ops of Ireland to condemnblood sports.

Although Bishop Walshexpressed his view that “suchcondemnations [by clergy]can be counterproductive”, hepointed to the promotion ofcompassion as being a wayforward.

“I believe that preachingmercy, kindness and lovetowards all God’s creatureswill be more effective in thelong run,” Bishop Walsh stat-ed.

“I fully respect your ownapproach on the matter,” headded.

In our appeal to the bishops,ICABS highlighted that bloodsports cause horrendous suf-fering to animals such asfoxes, hares and deer.

“The Catechism states that itis contrary to human dignity tocause animals to suffer anddie needlessly,” we stated.

Bishop advocateslove for animals

Complaint againsthunter profile onRTE radio show

ICABS HAS complained toRTE after a radio show pro-filed a hunter who outra-geously branded foxes as“vermin” and anti-hunt cam-paigners as “no good forsociety”.

The “Curious Ear” show ([email protected]) also gave thehunter an opportunity to makethe false claim that hunting withpacks of dogs is part of nature.

ICABS has asked RTE tostop providing hunters with aplatform for spreading misinfor-mation and asked them toredress the balance by featur-ing an anti-hunt campaigner ina future episode.

THIS delightful photo wastaken by a Kildare residentwho regularly welcomesfoxes in to her garden.

The creatures explore thelawn, relax on the patio tableand enjoy generous portionsof pet food!

Many landowners are happyto see foxes, not onlybecause they are fascinatingto watch but due to the fact

that they naturally keep downthe numbers of rats and mice.

If you would like to shareyour fox photos or videos,please send them to us atICABS, PO Box 88, Mullingar,Co Westmeath or email themto [email protected]

For more information onfoxes, including foxwatchingadvice and podcasts, click onFoxwatch Ireland on the linkspage of the ICABS website.

A fox poses for a photowhile relaxing on the patio

table. (Photo: Dee)

Wildlifegarden

THE IRISH Council AgainstBlood Sports was informedby the Late Late Show that adebate on hunting sched-uled to take place on the11th January had been axedbecause hunting represen-tatives were refusing to takepart.

The reason for this back outby the hunters, we under-stand, is that they objected toPhilip Lynch, Chairman of theFarmers Against Foxhuntingand Trespass Group, beinginvited to take part in thedebate.

ICABS spokesperson, Aid-een Yourell, who was also dueto take part, said that she wasabsolutely amazed at the turnof events.

“By refusing to take part inthe Late Late debate, thehunters have now shown thatthey have a lot to hide, both interms of the cruelty they meteout to animals, and the annoy-ance they cause to farmers byroutinely trespassing and cre-ating havoc on farmlands,”Aideen commented.

“As well as running scaredof the farmers’ group, I believethat their decision to pull out isdue to a fear of their heinousactivities being exposed onprime time television, with

video footage of the crueltypossibly being shown. Thesepeople are the epitome of the‘schoolyard bully’ - well able todole out cruelty to animals,but terrified of the exposure.”

The Irish Council AgainstBlood Sports feels it is a greatpity that the Late Late Showaxed the discussion. Weurged them to go ahead with-out the hunters and tell view-ers that they had refused totake part.

HUNTS RUNSCARED OFLATE LATE

HOUND KILLS CATDURING FOXHUNT

A HUNT hound was seenentering a private gardenand killing a cat, accordingto a report in the LimerickLeader. The creature wasfound by distraught neigh-bours during a harrier hunton St Stephen’s Day.

Quoted in the article, localwoman Mary Cooke saidneighbours saw the cat beingkilled by the hound. “The catwas very old and her hind legswere gone and she couldn’trun,” Ms Cook said. “I amhardly able to sleep at nightthinking about it. It is revolt-ing.”

Although a hunt spokesper-son tried to claim to the news-paper that hounds “wouldnever follow a cat”, it emerged

that members of the hunt“approached the owners ofthe cat and apologised for theincident”.

ICABS has also been toldthat an attempt was made toremove the dead cat from thescene following the incident. “Ishouted at the hunt followerfour times to come back,” an

eyewitness said. “He was let-ting on he was taking the catto the vet (at this stage the catwas dead). Some of the huntcrowd were laughing.”

This is the latest hunt-relat-ed incident involving attackson pets. In a previous editionof Animal Voice, we highlight-ed the Lurgan girl who wasleft inconsolable after hunthounds killed her cat. A farmdog in Galway was also thevictim of an attack.

In a statement published inthe Limerick Leader, ICABSadvised anyone who suffersan incursion of hunt hounds tonotify the Gardai and quotethe Control of Dogs Act.

This important piece of leg-islation makes it very clearthat the owner or person incharge of a dog shall not per-mit the dog to be on the prem-ises of another person withouttheir consent. The dog mustbe kept under “effectual con-trol”, it states.

The victim of the vicious hunt hound attack in Limerick

Property firm removeshunting from website

PROPERTY Partners haveremoved a hunting refer-ence from their website fol-lowing an appeal from theIrish Council Against BloodSports.

A company spokespersoncommented that they “do notaffiliate ourselves with bloodsports of any sort” and thatreferences to hunting wereremoved immediately.

Our appeal was promptedby a listing which referred to

an equestrian centre inLimerick as being in the heartof the county’s hunt countryand an ideal location for hunt-ing. The listing has since beenmodified.

ICABS has been assuredthat “Property Partners do notcondone blood sports andhunting references shall beexcluded from Property list-ings on our website.”

ICABS thanks the companyfor this positive response.

A NEW documentaryfrom Griffith Collegeprofiles Tom Hardiman,a former foxhunter whoturned his back on thecruelty and went on tobecome one ofIreland’s most dedicat-ed anti-hunt campaign-ers.

Directed by AnaM a q u e d a - L o p e z ,“Calling the Hounds” isa motivating presenta-tion about a man haunt-ed by what he wit-nessed at hunts butdetermined to see thecruelty outlawed.

Interviewed duringthe film, Tom recalls themoment he knew hehad to give up hunting.

“I decided to stophunting in 1999,” hesays. “I was at a huntdown in Knockbrack,the far side of Athenry -they were hunting in aCoillte forestry. Theyhunted a fox to ground.I was watching. Theydug the clay away fromover the fox and let thehounds in on top of him.They pulled him up andtore him to pieces. Iwas really disgustedwhen I saw it.”

But how did a man ofcompassion end upinvolved in hunting?

Tom explains it as fol-lows: “We used to liveacross from where thehunt is situated. I had aliking for horses and itgoes on from there. Youget in to the hunt andyou don’t really see thecruel side of it.

“You are all excitedwhen you’re goingthrough the countrysideand you’re jumpingwalls and you think thisis great. You’re notthinking of the crueltythat’s taking place.”

Now with over 117Dail protests complet-ed, Tom is as commit-ted as ever to seeing aban on the barbarity.

“I’m going to keepprotesting until theychange the law,” hestates in the documen-tary. “I’m not going togive up. No way.”

You can watch“Calling the Hounds” byclicking on Videos atbanbloodsports.comand scrolling down toDocumentaries.

�I�M NOT GOING TOGIVE UP. NO WAY.�

Documentary captures campaigner’s determination

Anti-hunt campaigner, Tom Hardiman, whoprotests against foxhunting outside DailEireann every week. You can join Tom’sprotest on Wednesdays from 11am-5pm.

ICABS on YoutubeWITNESS the cruel-ty of blood sports inIreland. Check outthe ICABS videochannel now atyoutube.com/icabs

Available to vieware videos exposingthe animal abuseinvolved in foxhunt-

ing, hare coursing,mink hunting andcarted deer hunting.

Also featured areshort presentationsshowing the humanealternatives in actionand playlists focusingon the beauty of Irishwildlife.

Page 27

THE CHAIRMAN of theHunting Association ofIreland has described thosecampaigning against hunt-ing as “passionate” andsaid that the anti-hunt cam-paign is “well organised”.

According to The IrishHorse section of the IrishFarmers Journal, Mr Duffymade the comments at a pro-hunt meeting in Navan.

“HAI chairman Gavin Duffytold the Navan protest meet-ing that hunting was seriouslyunder threat and that theassociation was broke,” thereport outlined. “He said thatthe anti-hunt faction werepassionate about their objec-tives [and] were well organ-ised.”

ICABS appreciates this pos-itive feedback!

Anti-hunt campaignis “well organised”

SINN FEIN Environmentspokesperson, ArthurMorgan is among the TDswho have called for a “totalban” on the Ward Unioncarted deer hunt.

In a letter to Minister JohnGormley, the Louth Deputydescribed the hunt as “anabomination”.

“Carted deer hunting is anunnecessary cruelty whichcauses horrific suffering todefenceless red deer,” DeputyMorgan stated. “This blood‘sport’ is not just an abomina-tion for the animals involved -it can also pose a danger tomembers of the public.”

He went on to remindMinister Gormley about aprecedent in Northern Irelandwhere “a similar hunt inCounty Down was banned in1997 when it was ruled that

the deer used by that carteddeer hunt were domestic ani-mals and thus covered by ani-mal welfare legislation.”

“The Irish Council AgainstBlood Sports are campaigningon this issue and they havemy full support,” DeputyMorgan added. “I look forwardto your decision to ban thiscruelty.”

Louth TD callsfor hunt ban

Stop the Ward Union: Anti-hunt TD, Arthur Morgan

Anti-hunt policyre-instated byGanly Walters

THE MANAGING Director ofinternational property con-sultants, Ganly Walters,has told ICABS that thecompany has re-estab-lished its policy of keepingfoxhunt references out ofmarketing material.

Paul McDowell wasresponding to a letter fromICABS in which we queriedthe company’s current policyon the issue. This wasprompted by the appearanceof hunt references in a num-ber of property listings on theGanly Walters website.

Mr McDowell explained that“the company has grown inrecent years with new per-sonnel who may not havebeen aware of our policy” andadded that “this policy hasnow been re-established.”

The company originallyannounced its anti-hunt policyfollowing an ICABS appeal in2004. Quoted in the SundayTimes at the time, a companyagent said: “The anti-bloodsports people highlighted theissue for us and so we decid-ed to have a rethink on it.Whether we like it or not, theanti-foxhunting lobby hasgrown stronger and we cameto the conclusion that manymore people would be offend-ed today by references to fox-hunting. It seemed to makesense to rectify the situation.”

ICABS is delighted thatGanly Walters has confirmedthat this policy remains inplace.

Fuji Xerox has told ICABSthat a TV advert featuringCristiano Ronaldo “will notbe run again”.

The ad is set in a bullring andshows the Manchester Unitedfootballer - and bullfighting fan -kicking a ball next to a bull.

It was aired in Japan twoyears ago but only came to lightin Europe in May when copiesappeared on YouTube.

Responding to an ICABScomplaint, Fuji XeroxOperations Vice President,Kazimierz Herchold, stated:“The commercial was runbetween June 1 and December31 2006 after which it was dis-continued. Our understandingis that it will not be run again.”

Google remove ads fromanti-bullfighting page

Arrow Tours deletebullfighting image

ARROW TOURS has beenpraised for removing a bull-fight image from their web-site and for pledging todelete it from the next edi-tion of their European CityBreaks brochure.

The publishers of a Madridguidebook distributed by ArrowTours have also been thankedfor promising to remove amatador from the front cover.

Responding to an ICABSappeal, Brian Greene, a direc-tor of Arrow Tours stated: “Ihave been in contact withMetropolis International,based in the UK, and they con-

firm that on their next print runof Madrid guidebooks they willremove the bullfighting imagethat is currently on the cover.

“Furthermore, I confirm thaton the next print run of theArrow Tours brochure we willalso remove the Madrid bull-fighting image.”

“Neither Arrow Tours norMetropolis International wish-es to be associated with cruel-ty to any kind of animal and wegive this undertaking as a signof goodwill towards yourefforts,” he added.

ICABS is delighted at thispositive response.

ICABS HAS thanked Googlefor removing bullfightingads from a page which pre-views Life on the Line, abook about anti-bullfightcampaigner, Vicki Moore.

In our appeal to the compa-ny, we told of how brave Vickiwas violently gored by a bullwhile documenting animal cru-elty and sadly died five yearslater.

“We are sure that it was notGoogle’s intention to be insen-sitive or disrespectful but thefact remains that the presenceof these sponsored links arehurtful not only to Vicki’s sur-viving husband, Tony, but alsoto the many people in Ireland,

the UK and across Europe whoremember the enormous con-tribution Vicki made to thecampaign against bullfighting,”we stated.

Replying, a spokesperson forGoogle acknowledged “thecontradiction of showing theads on a book search siteagainst animal violence”.

ICABS was delighted to sub-sequently learn, through TonyMoore and his partner MatildaMench, that the sponsoredlinks had been removed.

As Google continues toaccept and display bullfightingadverts on other pages, ourgeneral appeal to the companycontinues.

Thank Google for remov-ing the ads from the Lifeon the Line page. Askthem to stop publicisingthis blood sport altogeth-er by refusing all futurebullfighting adverts.

Dr. Eric E. SchmidtCEO, Google

1600 AmphitheatreParkway, Mountain View,

CA 94043, USA.Fax: 001 650 253 0001Email: adwords-support

@google.com

ACTION ALERT

Xerox advert“will not berun again”

SHANNON Developmenthas promised ICABS thatreferences to hunting willbe eliminated from futureeditions of its equestrianbrochure.

In a letter to the company,ICABS expressed our con-cerns about the publicitygiven to blood sports in the2006 edition of the publica-tion. Hunting groups inLimerick, Tipperary, Clare andGalway were mentioned.

Appealing to ShannonDevelopment’s CEO, ICABShighlighted the horrendous

animal cruelty involved inhunting. “We hope that youcan respond positively to ourappeal on the compassionategrounds of avoiding publicis-ing activities involving animalcruelty, activities which arenow illegal in our neighbour-ing jurisdictions of England,Scotland and Wales,” we stat-ed.

In response, TourismMarketing Manager, Pat Dalyassured us that “any futurepublications regarding eques-trian based promotions [will]take account of your con-

cerns.”

“We will not include huntingreferences in any future publi-cations/promotions in line withour sister agencies [FailteIreland and Tourism Ireland],”he added.

ICABS is delighted at thispositive response whichmeans that hunting will nolonger be promoted byShannon Development in the10,000 square kilometre areathey cover. We have thankedthem for becoming the latestbody to stop publicising hunt-ing in Ireland.

Shannon Development tostop publicising hunting

Fantastic Fox Photos

A set of fantastic fox photos taken recently by ICABS supporter, Clodagh Blake. Accordingto Clodagh, this adorable fox is a regular visitor to a garden in County Tipperary where heis welcomed with a generous supply of food. Thanks to Clodagh for sharing the photos. If

you have similar wildlife images, please send them to us at [email protected].

Foxhoundsdangerousto humans

THE DANGER posed by fox-hounds to human health hasbeen highlighted.

Writing in the Irish Examiner,ICABS Correspondent, DickPower, cites research whichfound that hounds can act asan “avenue leading to thehuman population” forTrichinella. Among the humandiseases caused by Trichinellais the potentially fatal trichinel-losis.

Thank youto SlatterysICABS HAS thankedSlatterys Travel for remov-ing a bullring from theirSpanish Wonder tour.

“We have removed any men-tion of a bullring from our web-site and I confirm that it will notbe mentioned on the brochureagain,” stated CommercialDirector, Norma McElligott.

Pro-hunt MeathTD is criticisedFINE GAEL’S Shane McEn-tee, TD has been criticisedby ICABS for defendingblood sports.

Asking for a licence to begranted to the Ward Union, theMeath TD claimed that “hunt-ing has a long and honourabletradition in Meath”.

“It’s hardly ‘honourable’ tohound tame, defenceless deeraround the countryside,”ICABS responded.

A WOMAN who was bittenand gnawed by a maraud-ing pack of hunt houndswas left suffering from“considerable personal andpsychological injuries”.

A solicitor’s letter seen byICABS details the horrendousincident which allegedly tookplace on private property dur-ing a hunt in Ireland.

The woman was “severelyinjured as a result of beingattacked by a pack ofhounds”, the solicitor’s letteroutlines, adding that “thehounds were, on the occa-sion, in the process of pursu-ing [an animal] when theystrayed into the garage areaof a house adjacent to a fieldwhere the hunt was going on.”

“They proceeded to bite andgnaw our client’s body result-ing in considerable personaland psychological injuriesfrom which she is still suffer-

ing,” stated the woman’s solic-itor.

Reference was made in theletter to the “spontaneousnature of hounds” and to “howdangerous it is to have a packout in fields close to houseswhere they may be liable tostray and attack”.

Following this disturbingincident, a court case waspending but it later emergedthat there was an out-of-courtsettlement. For legal reasons,ICABS is unable to name thehunt in question.

These shocking revelationsmake it crystal clear that hunthounds are not only a threatto wildlife, livestock and petsbut also to children andadults.

We have alerted the govern-ment and cited this attack ona human as yet another rea-son to urgently ban huntingwith hounds in Ireland.

Woman left �severelyinjured� after vicious

hunt hounds attack

Wet weather warning for wildlifeAS PART of our appeal toMinister Gormley to refuse alicence to coursers, ICABSstressed the impact that thisyear’s wet weather will havehad on the hare species.

We quoted an article from theIrish Examiner in which wildlifejournalist, Dick Warner, stressedthe dangers posed by heavyrainfall.

“Persistent rain is one of thecommonest causes of deathamong young birds,” he says.

“If their feathers get wet theylose their insulating propertiesand the birds die of hypother-mia. Some mammal species arevulnerable in the same way.Young rabbits and hares have areduced life expectancy if theyare born in a long spell of wetweather.”

Page 25

ICABS represents Ireland atbullfight protest in Brussels

A PROTEST outside theEuropean Parliament inMay succeeded in high-lighting the huge opposi-tion to bullfighting acrossEurope.

The Brussels demonstra-tion, which received extensivemedia coverage (including areport on BBC television)brought together anti-bullfight-ing groups from around theworld in a collective plea forbullfighting to be stopped.

ICABS was proud to repre-sent Ireland at the demo andto have the opportunity toexchange campaigning ideasat several anti-bullfightingworkshops and seminars.

The protest coincided with apro-bullfighting event whichwas being hosted within the

Parliament buildings. Theblood sports brigade had con-vened to try and persuadeparliamentarians that slowlytorturing a bull to death is a“noble” activity that should bepreserved.

ICABS thanks Kathy Sinnottand the other Irish MEPs whojoined us in an appeal to thePresident of the EuropeanParliament to keep the bull-fighters out of the EUHeadquarters.

Brussels protest: Some of our colleagues from acrossEurope who work tirelessly for an end to bullfighting.

Deer hunting illegality ishighlighted on Today FMICABS Campaign Director,Aideen Yourell, has high-lighted the illegality of theWard Union hunt in an inter-view on Today FM.

Speaking to Matt Cooper onthe Last Word show, shestressed that the deer ter-rorised by the hunt aredomestic animals and there-fore protected under theProtection of Animals Act.

The Irish Council AgainstBlood Sports has always con-tended that this hunt is illegaland should never have been

licensed under the WildlifeAct, because the deer huntedby the Ward Union are farmeddeer, not wild animals, andtherefore not subject to theWildlife Act.

This contention has beenborne out in legal opinion fromProfessors Clive Symmonsand William Binchy of TrinitySchool of Law which con-cludes that the Ward Unionhunt is “illegal” under the 1911Protection of Animals Act, andthat it shouldn’t be licensedunder the 1976 Wildlife Act.

Subscribe toour RSS feed

STAY RIGHT up to date onICABS campaign activitiesby subscribing to our newRSS news feed.

Click on the RSS logo onthe bottom of our homepageto copy the relevant link.Please also consider addingour RSS widget to your web-site to help spread the wordabout the latest action alertsand updates.

This exciting addition to ourcampaign helps us reach aneven wider audience to fur-ther expose the cruelty ofblood sports in Ireland.

Vodafone asked to dropbullfighting from advert

THE IRISH Council AgainstBlood Sports has called onVodafone Ireland to drop abullfighting segment fromits “Roaming Passport” tel-evision advert.

The offensive scene showsa Vodafone character wavinghis hands in the air as a mata-dor taunts a bull.

In a letter to the company’sCEO, Charles Butterworth,ICABS appealed for theadvert to be modified toexclude the bullring scene.

“Matadors, like the one inthe Vodafone ad, are respon-sible for the slow torture todeath of thousands of bullsevery year,” we told MrButterworth. “Each bullfightevent sees the mercilesskilling of six or more bulls.”

Despite being told of theextreme suffering endured bythe bulls, Vodafone defendedthe advert. Although stressingthat the company does not

“endorse or support the prac-tice of blood sports”, aspokesperson went on toclaim that bullfighting “is seenas an important part of Spain’stradition and culture”.

ICABS has told Vodafonethat we strongly disagree withthis statement, pointing outthat over 70 per cent ofSpaniards do not support bull-fighting. “The idea of bullfight-

ing as a cultural identifier isoffensive to most Spaniards,we stated”

ICABS is disappointed thatVodafone Ireland is defendingthe bullfighting scene andvery surprised that the com-pany is content to allow itsreputable image to come any-where near what is the mostappalling animal cruelty - anactivity that, we are sure, themajority of Vodafone cus-tomers would find abhorrentand unacceptable.

Vodafone’s “Roaming” character waves his hands in theair as a matador taunts a bull in the company’s TV advert.

Please ask VodafoneIreland to keep bullfight-ing out of their futureadvertisements.

Ruth Brady,Consumer Manager

Vodafone IrelandEmail: [email protected]

Tel: 042 938 5504

ACTION ALERT

MEATH MAJORITY WANTWARD UNION BANNED

A MAJORITY of people inMeath want EnvironmentMinister, John Gormley, torefuse a licence to theWard Union hunt.

According to a poll carriedout by the Meath Post, near-ly two thirds of residents inthe Royal County now wantthe cruel hunt ended.

The poll also found thatonly around a quarter oflocals want the hunt to con-tinue while nine per cent ofthose polled said that theydidn’t know.

ICABS welcomes theresults of this poll. We havebrought them to the attentionof Minister Gormley.

OTTERS NEED BANON MINK HUNTING

Doomed badger struggledfor 24 hours in Dept snare

THE STATUS of the otterspecies is “poor” accordingto the “Status of EUProtected Habitats andSpecies in Ireland” reportpublished by the Depart-ment of the Environment inMay 2008.

As reported in the last edi-tion of Animal Voice, theNational Parks and WildlifeService previously found thatotters have declined by 18 percent in the past 25 years andnumbers are continuing to fall.

It is very clear that urgentaction must be taken to helphalt the decline in the otterpopulation.

ICABS has told MinisterJohn Gormley, that it is imper-ative that this action mustinclude a ban on mink hunt-ing, a blood sport which is notonly cruel to mink but also

results in huge disturbancesto the otters which inhabit thesame stretches of rivers.

We have stressed thatallowing mink hunting is total-ly at odds with Ireland’s obli-gation to protect the otterspecies. Please respond toour action alert now.

Urge Minister Gormley tobring mink hunting to anend as a way to help haltthe otter decline.

Minister John GormleyDept of the EnvironmentCustom House, Dublin 1

Email: [email protected]: 01 888 2403.Fax: 01 878 8640.

ACTION ALERTMink hunters and houndscausing chaos on a river

inhabited by otters.

THE NATIONAL Parks andWildlife Service have beenasked to investigate a claimthat mink hunters in CountyCork killed six otters.

Details about the allegedkillings were made anony-mously to ICABS. The NPWShave alerted the conservationranger in the area in question.

ICABS appeals to the per-son who sent us the details toplease call us in confidence.

PHOTOS from BadgerWatch Ireland show a badg-er injured so badly in aDepartment of Agriculturesnare that a vet had to putthe barely conscious ani-mal out of its misery.

Describing the horrendousscene, Badger Watch stated:“The snare caught her acrossthe groins and abdomen. Themore she struggled, thetighter it became.”

ICABS has joined BadgerWatch in renewed calls on thegovernment to stop this cruelsnaring which has already lefttens of thousands of badgersdead.

“What have we got to showfor almost two decades ofslaughtering badgers?” asksBernie Barrett of BadgerWatch. “Ireland’s bovine TBlevels rocketed by 13% in2007.”

Six otters killedby hunt: claim

A TD WHO described hunt-ing as an “integral part ofthe rural lifestyle” has beentold by ICABS about the ter-rible animal cruelty involvedin the activity. Sligo’s JohnPerry, has said that he willkeep our comments in mindfor the future.

In a statementdelivered at a pro-hunt meeting inJanuary, DeputyPerry stated:“Outdoor leisure andrecreational activitiessuch as hunting,shooting and fishingare factors that are afundamental andintegral part of therural lifestyle” andthat there is “a need for posi-tive policies to protect the bestof our rural culture and tradi-tions”.

The Fine Gael TD toldhunters at the meeting that “Iwill maintain my pressure onthis Government to have ourrich rural heritage recognised,and indeed protected by legis-lation, rather than being threat-ened by it.”

Appealing for Deputy Perryto reconsider his stance,ICABS outlined how hunting isvery much a minority activityand is in no way integral to therural lifestyle. We pointed outthat 64 per cent of Irish people

hunting. “These would not beunhealthy hounds but houndsthat are simply not consideredby hunters to be satisfactoryas regards speed or ability tofollow scent.”

Responding, Deputy Perrystressed that he continues to“feel strongly about animalwelfare and conservation ofour wildlife”.

“I note your comments andwill keep them in mind for thefuture,” he assured us.

want foxhunting banned.

“During foxhunts, foxes aredisturbed from their habitat,chased for anything up tothree or more hours (duringwhich they suffer not only fearand stress but a physicalbreakdown of muscles anddamage to internal organs)

and eventuallyknocked off theirfeet and evisceratedby a pack ofhounds,” we stated.“There is no justifi-cation for such cru-elty to wildlife.”

Challenginga claim by DeputyPerry that huntshave “an excellentrecord in...looking

after the welfare of theirhounds”, ICABS highlightedhow hunts destroy hounds thatare no longer considered fit for

Sligo TD notesinformation onhunting cruelty

John Perry, TD

MAYO TD, BeverleyFlynn, is one of themembers of Dail Eireannto call for an end to cart-ed deer hunting inIreland.

Deputy Flynn has con-tacted EnvironmentMinister, John Gormley, tohighlight the “considerablepublic opposition” to theWard Union hunt amongconstituents.

According to a report inthe Sunday Times, theIndependent TD wrote toMinister Gormley to putforward the case for refus-ing a licence to the widelycondemned hunt. “I havebeen approached by anumber of constituentswho have expressed con-cern over the possibility ofyour issuing a [hunting]licence,” she stated in hercorrespondence.

ICABS has written toDeputy Flynn to thank herfor her stance on thisissue.

The Sunday Times wenton to reveal some of theTDs who have defendedthe Ward Union. Thesewere named in the paperas Darragh O’Brien(Fianna Fail, DublinNorth), Christy O’Sullivan(Fianna Fail, Cork South-West) and Noel Treacy(Fianna Fail, GalwayEast).

Don�t licensedeer hunt:

Mayo TD

Paddy Power urgedto end bullring bets

THE IRISH Council AgainstBlood Sports has stronglyurged the Paddy Powercompany to stop acceptingbullring bets.

Visitors to the company’sSpanish website are invited tobet on the number of earshacked off the heads of bullsthat have been tortured inbullrings.

On the “Toros” page of thesite, heartless punters aregiven the opportunity to guessthe “No total de orejas cor-tadas en la corrida” (“Totalnumber of ears cut in the bull-fight”) or predict whether thenumber will be even or odd.

In one of several letters ofappeal to Paddy Power,ICABS stated: “We find itabsolutely grotesque and inthe poorest of taste the PaddyPower company’s acceptance

of such bets. As people areplacing bets on the PaddyPower website, tortured bullsare stumbling around the bull-rings with blood spurting fromtheir backs and spraying fromtheir noses and mouths.

“How can your companyjustify making money fromthis disgusting animalabuse?”

Bullfighting is one of theworld’s worst blood sports andis cruel from beginning to end.Each bullfight involves theslow torture to death of six ormore bulls.

Ears are cut from the bullsas grisly trophies for the mata-dors. The animals will havesuffered enormously in thebullring and, if still consciouswhen the ear is cut off, theiragony will be even greater.

The Paddy Power companyhas been made fully aware ofthe violent horrors of bullfight-ing. A video sent to their headoffice shows a bleeding andinjured bull - still conscious -lying paralysed on the groundas a bullfighter uses a daggerto carve off one of its ears.

Watch our action alert videonow at youtube.com/icabs

SIGN UP to the ICABS TextAlerts service and receiveoccasional action alertsand campaign updates toyour mobile phone.

To subscribe to this freeservice, simply text the wordGO to our textline on 086-0386617.

To unsubscribe at anystage, simply text us the wordSTOP. Thank you.

Please contact the CEOof Paddy Power anddemand an immediateend to its bullring bets.

Patrick Kennedy, CEOPaddy Power Plc

Airton House, Airton RoadTallaght, Dublin 24


ACTION ALERT

The ICABS campaign postcard aimed at Paddy Power.

Campaigntext alerts

I am opposed to blood sports and agree with the aims of the Irish CouncilAgainst Blood Sports. I wish to become a supporter or renew my support*

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Subscription Rates: Family (�20), Individual (�15) Unwaged (�8)

Standing Order FormPlease fill out this form and return to:

ICABS, PO Box 88, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, Ireland.

To the manager of: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________

________________________________________________________

______________________________ ________________________

(your bank)

Bank Sort Code:

Please pay to the Irish Council Against Blood Sports,Ulster Bank account number: 80628033. Sort Code: 98 62 42the sum of � _____ each month / quarter / year (delete as applicable)Starting on ___ / ___ / ___ (date) until further notice and debit my account,the number of which is:

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Help minimise our administrative costs andenable us to plan future campaigns. Pay yoursubscription by standing order. Simply fill out

this form and send to us today. Thank you.

The Irish Council Against Blood Sports is campaigning for an end tofoxhunting, hare coursing, carted deer hunting, mink hunting and all

forms of hunting animals with packs of hounds.We need your support now more than ever.

Become a supporter of our campaign or renew your support andtogether we can continue working for an end to blood sports.

Please return the completed form to us today. Thank you.

Bank Address:

Please let us know if your email address has changed since the last edition of Animal Voice.

Kindly return to ICABS, PO Box 88, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, Ireland.For copies of this form, click on “Join ICABS” at www.banbloodsports.com Your generosity will help our campaign against this kind of cruelty