Hare coursing - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Hare coursing is the pursuit of hare

Hare

Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares less than one year old are called leverets. Four species commonly known as types of hare are classified outside of Lepus: the hispid hare , and three species known as red rock hares .Hares are very fast-moving...

s with greyhound

Greyhound

The Greyhound is a breed of sighthound that has been primarily bred for coursing game and racing, and the breed has also recently seen a resurgence in its popularity as a pedigree show dog and family pet. It is a gentle and intelligent breed...

s and other sighthound

Sighthound

Sighthounds, also called gazehounds, are hounds that primarily hunt by speed and sight, instead of by scent and endurance as scent hounds do.-Appearance:...

s, which chase the hare by sight and not by scent. It is a competitive sport, in which dogs are tested on their ability to run, overtake and turn a hare, rather than a form of hunting aiming at the capture of game

Game (food)

Game is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game animals are also hunted for sport.The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world. This will be influenced by climate, animal diversity, local taste and locally accepted view about what can or...

. It has a number of variations in its rules around the world. Informal coursing can be a true form of hunting

Hunting

Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...

. It is often conducted to kill game or vermin, mainly for food, and occasionally as a form of gambling.

Coursing is a long established hunting technique, practiced historically with greyhounds, other sighthound breeds, or with lurcher

Lurcher

The lurcher is a type of dog originating in Ireland and parts of Great Britain. While not a pure breed, it is generally a cross between a sighthound and any other breed, usually a pastoral dog or terrier, dependent on the attributes desired by the breeder; originally stealth and cunning...

s which are crossbred sighthounds, and working breeds. The sport grew in popularity in Europe during the 19th century, but has since experienced a decline due in part to the introduction of greyhound racing

Greyhound racing

Greyhound racing is the sport of racing greyhounds. The dogs chase a lure on a track until they arrive at the finish line. The one that arrives first is the winner....

and betting.

In recent decades some controversy has developed around hare coursing, with some viewing it as a cruel bloodsport and others seeing it as a traditional activity that assists in the conservation of hare populations and tests the ability of sighthounds. Since 2005, hare coursing has been illegal throughout the UK, but continues elsewhere in the world as a regulated and judged, competitive sport, especially in Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

and Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, as well as in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

and the Western United States

Western United States

.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...

. Elsewhere, in Eurasia for example, coursing continues as a classic form of hunting.

Formal coursing

Whether for sporting or hunting purposes, hare coursing was in Europe historically restricted to landowners and the nobility

Nobility

Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...

, who used sighthound

Sighthound

Sighthounds, also called gazehounds, are hounds that primarily hunt by speed and sight, instead of by scent and endurance as scent hounds do.-Appearance:...

s, the ownership of which was at certain historic times prohibited among the lower social class

Social class

Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...

es. The oldest documented description of hare coursing is the work Kynegetikos (Greek), otherwise known as Cynegeticus (Latin), which was written by Arrian

Arrian

Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period...

circa 180 AD. This work, known from its first complete English translation as On Coursing 1831, by William Dansey, was considered by its original author as a necessary addition to the classic work of the same name Cynegeticus (On Hunting), scent hunting, by Xenophon

Xenophon

Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...

. Arrian felt compelled to describe the sight hunt and sighthounds because the Ancient Greeks

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

only knew the scent hunt. It is from Arrian that the most famous quote on the sporting fairness of coursing originates "... true huntsmen do not take out their hounds to catch the creature, but for a trial of speed and a race, and they are satisfied if the hare manages to find something that will rescue her".
The competitive version of hare coursing was given definitive form in the UK when the first complete set of English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

rules was drawn up in the reign of Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

by Thomas Duke of Norfolk

Duke of Norfolk

The Duke of Norfolk is the premier duke in the peerage of England, and also, as Earl of Arundel, the premier earl. The Duke of Norfolk is, moreover, the Earl Marshal and hereditary Marshal of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the...

, providing for a pursuit of no more than two hounds, a headstart termed "Law" to be given to the hare for a fair run, and for the manner of awarding points on "Speed", "Go-bye", "Turn", "Wrench", "Kill" & "Trip", to judge the dogs' performance. The first modern coursing club was established at Swaffham

Swaffham

Swaffham is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The town is situated east of King's Lynn and west of Norwich.The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 6,935 in 3,130 households...

in 1776, and the National Coursing Club was founded to regulate the sport in 1858. During the 19th century, coursing crossed the class

Social class

divide, and reached its peak of popularity, with more than 150 coursing clubs in Britain, some attracting up to 80,000 people. By the late 19th century, hare coursing had become a predominantly working class

Working class

Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...

sport.

Coursing declined during the 20th century, notably due to the development of urban greyhound racing

Greyhound racing

Greyhound racing is the sport of racing greyhounds. The dogs chase a lure on a track until they arrive at the finish line. The one that arrives first is the winner....

in the 1920s, and there were less than 30 coursing clubs in the UK by 2000.

Informal coursing

The oldest form of hare coursing simply involved two dogs chasing a hare, the winner being the dog that caught the hare; this could be for sport, food or pest control

Pest control

Pest control refers to the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest, usually because it is perceived to be detrimental to a person's health, the ecology or the economy.-History:...

. In order to indulge in the informal practice, or hunting, various cross breeds (under the generic British term lurcher

Lurcher

s) have been created; such animals may be specifically bred for coursing, such as the staghound

American Staghound

The American Staghound is a type of sighthound that is used in hunting to course stag. Although they have been bred for many years, the American Staghound is not currently recognized as a dog breed, nor is there interest in doing so.-Appearance:...

s used to hunt coyote in the United States. Informal coursing has long been closely associated with pheasant hunting or poaching

Poaching

Poaching is the illegal taking of wild plants or animals contrary to local and international conservation and wildlife management laws. Violations of hunting laws and regulations are normally punishable by law and, collectively, such violations are known as poaching.It may be illegal and in...

, lacking the landowner's permission, and is often seen as a problem by the local public, landowners and the police. Clubs affiliated to the Association of Lurcher Clubs organised informal coursing with the landowner's permission, sometimes using a single lurcher rather than a pair to chase a hare.

Description of formal coursing

Modern hare coursing is practiced using a number of sighthounds: mainly greyhounds but also Borzoi

Borzoi

The borzoi is a breed of domestic dog also called the Russian wolfhound and descended from dogs brought to Russia from central Asian countries. It is similar in shape to a greyhound, and is also a member of the sighthound family.The system by which Russians over the ages named their sighthounds...

s, Saluki

Saluki

The Saluki, also known as the Royal Dog of Egypt and Persian Greyhound is one of the oldest known breeds of domesticated dog. From the period of the Middle Kingdom onwards, Saluki-like animals appear on the ancient Egyptian tombs of 2134 BC. They have connections both to the Bible and Imperial...

s, Whippets, and Deerhounds

Scottish Deerhound

The Scottish Deerhound, or simply the Deerhound, is a breed of hound , once bred to hunt the Red Deer by coursing.- Appearance :The Scottish Deerhound resembles a rough-coated Greyhound. It is however, larger in size and bone...

that are registered with a governing body such as the National Coursing Club or Kennel Club

Kennel club

A kennel club is an organization for canine affairs that concerns itself with the breeding, showing and promotion of more than one breed of dog...

in Great Britain, the Irish Coursing Club or the National Open Field Coursing Association (NOFCA) in the US. Events are conducted through local coursing clubs which are regulated by their governing body. The objective of coursing is to test and judge the athletic ability of the dogs rather than to kill the hare.

Such hare coursing has a number of variations in how it is undertaken. Open coursing takes place in the open field, and closed coursing (or park or Irish style) takes place in an enclosure with an escape route. Open coursing is either run as walked-up coursing, where a line of people walk through the countryside to flush out a hare, or as driven coursing (such as the Waterloo Cup

Waterloo Cup

The Waterloo Cup was a coursing event. The three day event was run annually at Great Altcar in Lancashire, England from 1836 to 2005 and it used to attract tens of thousands of spectators to watch and gamble on the coursing matches...

), where hares are driven by beaters towards the coursing field. In each case in the UK with Greyhound coursing, when a suitable hare appears, a person known as a slipper uses a slip with two collars to release two dogs at the same time, in pursuit of the hare which is given a head start (known as fair law), usually between . Elsewhere the sighthound is slipped by the handler.

The chased hare will in the UK then run at around 40–45 km/h (24–26 mph) and the course will last around 35–40 seconds over a third of a mile (0.5 km). The Greyhounds which pursue the hare will, being faster, start to catch up with it. Since the Greyhounds are much bigger than the hare, and much less agile, they find it hard to follow the hare's sharp turns, which it makes as the Greyhounds threaten to reach it. This agility gives the hare an important and often crucial advantage as it seeks, usually successfully, to escape. Under National Coursing Club rules, the dogs are awarded points on how many times they can turn the hare, and how closely they force the hare's progress. The contest between the Greyhounds is judged in the UK usually from horseback, and the winning Greyhound will proceed to the next round of a knock-out

Single-elimination tournament

A single-elimination tournament, also called a knockout, cup or sudden death tournament, is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match or bracket is immediately eliminated from winning the championship or first prize in the event...

tournament. The 2003 UK coursing season ran from 1 October to 28 February.

Variations in Irish coursing

Hare coursing is popular in the Republic of Ireland

Republic of Ireland

, with the national meeting in Clonmel

Clonmel

Clonmel is the county town of South Tipperary in Ireland. It is the largest town in the county. While the borough had a population of 15,482 in 2006, another 17,008 people were in the rural hinterland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian army which sacked both...

, County Tipperary

County Tipperary

County Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...

, being the most important event in the coursing calendar, attracting 10,000 spectators, and claimed by its organisers to be worth up to €16 million for the local economy. There are around 70 formal coursing clubs in the Republic and two in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

, together holding 80–85 meetings per year.

There are several differences between the rules of coursing in Great Britain (where it is regulated by the National Coursing Club) and Irish coursing which has been organised by Irish Coursing Club since 1916. Because hares are not plentiful in all parts of the island of Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, mainly due to modern agricultural practices

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

, coursing clubs are licensed by the Irish Government

Irish Government

The Government of Ireland is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland.-Members of the Government:Membership of the Government is regulated fundamentally by the Constitution of Ireland. The Government is headed by a prime minister called the Taoiseach...

to net 70–75 hares for their events. The hares are then transported in boxes to the coursing venue where they are kept for up to eight weeks and trained to be coursed.

Instead of being coursed on open land, the Irish form is run in a secure enclosure over a set distance. Since 1993, Irish Coursing Club rules have made it compulsory for the greyhounds to be muzzled

Muzzle (device)

A muzzle is a device that is placed over the snout of an animal to keep it from biting or otherwise opening its mouth.An Elizabethan collar is a cone-shaped device placed around an animal's neck to prevent biting and sometimes referred to as a muzzle, though its function is more usually to prevent...

while they chase the hare. After the coursing event, the hares are transported back to where they were netted and re-released into the wild.

Whereas the British form of coursing is run with dogs winning points for their running and turning of the hare, the Irish form is run on the basis that the first dog to turn the hare wins. This is denoted by either a red flag or a white flag, indicating the colours of the respective dogs' collars.

Variations in the United States

Greyhounds were introduced in the Americas for sport and pleasure, they helped farmers control jackrabbits, and organised coursing meets were taking place in the United States in the 19th century, by 1886 according to Gulf Coast

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

Greyhounds. Open field coursing of jackrabbits

Hare

, which are members of the hare family, now takes place in a number of states in Western America, including California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

and Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

, and is said by the North American Coursing Association to take place also in Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

, Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

, New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

and Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

. It takes place with up to four dogs chasing the hare.

The legality of hare coursing across the different states of the USA

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

is not always clear. Animal Place, a California-based animal rights group which opposes coursing, claims that the activity is legal in California, Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming but illegal in Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, Idaho

Idaho

, Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

and Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

. The pro-coursing campaign, Stop2110 says that open field coursing is legal in all US states with a huntable population of jackrabbits. Washington state lists jackrabbits as a protected species, due to an unusually low population for a western state, and bans all forms of hunting them.

During the 2006–07 coursing season, the leading United States coursing body, the National Open Field Coursing Association, registered 480 dogs of various breeds, and oversaw 83 coursing events. Its quarry is the Black-tailed Jackrabbit

Black-tailed Jackrabbit

The black-tailed jackrabbit , also known as the american desert hare, is a common hare of the western United States and Mexico, where it is found at elevations from sea level to up to...

. Coursing of White-tailed Jackrabbit

White-tailed Jackrabbit

The White-tailed Jackrabbit , also known as the Prairie Hare and the White Jack, is a hare found in western North America. Briefly reputed to have been extirpated , it is now clear from observations, roadkilled specimens and historical records that white-tailed jackrabbits are still extant in...

s is organised by a smaller body, the North American Coursing Association.

Other countries

According to the UK Government review, the Burns Inquiry

Burns Inquiry

The Burns Inquiry was a Government committee set up to examine the facts in the debate in the United Kingdom about fox hunting and other forms of hunting with dogs.-Establishment:...

, hare coursing also takes place in Pakistan, Portugal and Spain. Pakistan has officially prohibited the use of dogs or hawks for coursing unless a special license is issued for carrying out such activity although, according to some reports, hare coursing is still practised and popular. Hare coursing in Portugal is run in both forms: open (Prova de Galgos a Campo), and closed (park) coursing where it is known as lebre a corricão. Hare coursing in Portugal may only be legally undertaken with two dogs and operates under the same ethos as coursing in Britain and the United States. In Spain, the hare coursing is open coursing, and the areas where the activity takes place includes the Medinrua area. Coursing has long been undertaken in Spain, where Spanish galgos

Galgo Español

The Galgo Español or Spanish greyhound is an ancient breed of dog, specifically a member of the sighthound family....

rather than greyhounds are used. These dogs have a precarious life after their coursing careers, with the World Society for the Protection of Animals

World Society for the Protection of Animals

The World Society for the Protection of Animals is an international non-profit animal welfare organization and also a federation of such organisations and active in over 150 countries with more than 1000 member societies.- Organization :...

suggesting that many tens of thousands die cruelly each year. Hare coursing also takes place in Russia but is illegal in most European countries and in Australia, where it had a long history from 1867 until it was banned in 1985 following a long decline in popularity.

Lure coursing

Lure coursing is a sport for dogs based on hare coursing, but involving dogs chasing a mechanically operated lure. Some critics of hare coursing suggest that coursers could test their dogs through lure coursing. However, coursers believe that, while lure coursing is good athletic exercise for their dogs, it does not approximate the testing vigour and sport of live coursing.

Controversy

As long ago as 1516, Thomas More

Thomas More

Sir Thomas More , also known by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was an important councillor to Henry VIII of England and, for three years toward the end of his life, Lord Chancellor...

wrote in Utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...

that,
Coursing has long sparked opposition from activists concerned about animal welfare

Animal welfare

Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...

. In 1892, Lady Florence Dixie

Lady Florence Dixie

Lady Florence Caroline Dixie , before her marriage Lady Florence Douglas, was a British traveller, war correspondent, writer and feminist.-Early life:...

criticised hare coursing as an "aggravated form of torture" and the League Against Cruel Sports

League Against Cruel Sports

The League Against Cruel Sports are an animal welfare organisation that campaigns against all blood sports including bull fighting, fox hunting and hare coursing. It also campaigns to ban the manufacture, sale and use of snares, for the regulation of greyhound racing and for an end to commercial...

was established in 1924 to campaign against rabbit

Rabbit

Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...

coursing on Morden Common

Lower Morden

Lower Morden is an area within the district of Morden in south west corner of the London Borough of Merton, to the west of Morden Park and south of Raynes Park.-History:...

and continues to believe that it is wrong to expose animals to the risk of injury or death for human entertainment. The Waterloo Cup

Waterloo Cup

became a centrepiece of the campaign against coursing in the UK. In opposition, coursing has long enjoyed the fame of being known as "the noblest of field sports" precisely because the death of the hare is not the aim of the sport. Under most regulated forms of coursing only two hounds pursue the hare, the hounds competing against each other for a short time, and allowing the hare a significant chance of escape – this in contrast to sustained and methodical scent hunting, where superior pack endurance will often wear out and claim the prey.

Welfare arguments

Until the 1970s, there was a dearth of scientific evidence

Scientific evidence

Scientific evidence has no universally accepted definition but generally refers to evidence which serves to either support or counter a scientific theory or hypothesis. Such evidence is generally expected to be empirical and properly documented in accordance with scientific method such as is...

on the welfare impact of coursing. The first thorough study was carried out in 1977–79 by the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW), albeit that it said that it was "not easy to draw conclusions from these reports". According to a review of this study conducted for the Burns Inquiry

Burns Inquiry

The Burns Inquiry was a Government committee set up to examine the facts in the debate in the United Kingdom about fox hunting and other forms of hunting with dogs.-Establishment:...

, "Of the 53 hares killed, 43 had neck injuries, 18 of which were inflicted by the handler (as evidenced from a clean break and no teeth marks). No clean breaks were believed to have been caused by dogs (where tooth marks were evident). The UFAW team’s assessment was that all chest injuries would have been quickly fatal (in six cases these included a punctured heart); 10 animals without neck injuries had chest injuries. Abdominal injuries included six punctured livers, but generally involved a ruptured gut. In the UFAW team’s opinion, hindleg and back injuries

Back injury

Back injuries result from damage, wear, or trauma to the bones, muscles, or other tissues of the back. Common back injuries include sprains and strains, herniated disks, and fractured vertebrae. The lumbar is often the site of back pain. The area is susceptible because of its flexibility and the...

could have been extremely painful until chest or neck injuries were inflicted".

The Burns Inquiry, set up by the UK Government to examine hunting with dogs in England and Wales

England and Wales

England and Wales is a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom...

, concluded that "We are ... satisfied that being pursued, caught and killed by dogs during coursing seriously compromises the welfare of the hare. It is clear, moreover, that, if the dog or dogs catch the hare, they do not always kill it quickly. There can also sometimes be a significant delay, in driven coursing, before the picker-up reaches the hare and dispatches it (if it is not already dead). In the case of walked-up coursing, the delay is likely to be even longer".

Welfare arguments in Irish-style coursing

Since the introduction of muzzling for greyhounds in 1993, deaths to hares are less common, falling from an average of 16% to about 4% of hares coursed (reducing to around 150–200 hares per year). Muzzled dogs are more likely to buffet a hare than to bite it, a factor that may still affect the hare's subsequent survival. Hares can either die due to injuries sustained by contact with the much larger dogs or due to capture myopathy

Myopathy

In medicine, a myopathy is a muscular disease in which the muscle fibers do not function for any one of many reasons, resulting in muscular weakness. "Myopathy" simply means muscle disease...

. The report from the official Countryside ranger at the Wexford Coursing Club meeting in December 2003 confirms that, exceptionally, 40 hares died at the event and the report of the veterinary surgeon

Veterinary surgeon

Veterinary surgeon is a term used to describe:*The full title of a vet, who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals, in the United Kingdom and several Commonwealth countries**See also Veterinary medicine in the United Kingdom...

who examined the hares blames the "significant stress" of being "corralled and coursed". Coursing supporters deny that hare coursing is cruel and say that hares that are injured, pregnant or ill are not allowed to run. Hares are reported to be examined by a vet before and after racing.

In the context of open (not park) coursing, the (British) National Coursing Club evidence to the Burns Inquiry said that muzzled coursing can cause more suffering than unmuzzled if the coursing officials are not able to reach injured hares quickly. The Irish Council Against Bloodsports, an organisation that campaigns against hare coursing has video evidence that shows this happening, even in enclosed coursing.

The kill

In 2000, the rules of the National Coursing Club awarded a point to a greyhound that killed a hare "through superior dash and speed". By early 2003, this rule had been deleted in order to remove the appearance of the kill incentive. In the United States, points are still awarded for a "touch ... where the quarry is captured or killed". The number of hares killed in coursing is unclear. The UK government's Burns Inquiry

Burns Inquiry

The Burns Inquiry was a Government committee set up to examine the facts in the debate in the United Kingdom about fox hunting and other forms of hunting with dogs.-Establishment:...

said that about 250 hares were killed each year in formal coursing. although much larger numbers of kills are believed to take place in informal coursing.

The National Coursing Club and the organisers of the Waterloo Cup – the most important event in the UK coursing calendar – each said that, on average, one in seven or eight hares coursed were killed. Inspectors from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a charity in England and Wales that promotes animal welfare. In 2009 the RSPCA investigated 141,280 cruelty complaints and collected and rescued 135,293 animals...

who attended the event estimated that a greater number, one in five hares coursed were killed. Observers of hare coursing at the Waterloo Cup regularly reported a minority of people in the crowd cheering when hares were killed.

Conservation or pest control

In different parts of the world two contrasting arguments are made in favour of hare coursing. In some places, the high densities of hare leads to the animals being considered as agricultural pests

Pest (animal)

A pest is an animal which is detrimental to humans or human concerns. It is a loosely defined term, often overlapping with the related terms vermin, weeds, parasites and pathogens...

– a view taken, for example, by the California Department of Agriculture

California Department of Food and Agriculture

The California Department of Food and Agriculture , is a cabinet-level agency in the government of California. Established in 1919 by the California State Legislature and signed into law by Governor William Stephens, the Department of Food and Agriculture is responsible for ensuring the state's...

. Coursing is sometimes defended on this basis, even though the U.S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife

United States Fish and Wildlife Service

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats...

has said that coursing does not "reduce the population enough to alleviate damage".

Elsewhere, such as in the UK, hares are not always seen as pests, and there are species action plans aiming to significantly increase their numbers. Some coursers say that coursing assists conservation because it leads to sporting landowners creating a habitat suitable for hares. Opponents of coursing say that the converse is true, namely that coursing takes place where hares live rather than hares living where coursing takes place. It is also the case that coursing kills slower hares, and it is said by some coursers that this leaves faster hares to breed and multiply.

Debate and legislation

United Kingdom and Ireland

The practice of hare coursing has only recently, in historical terms, been debated in Parliament

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

, although Parliament created an exemption in 1921 from the cruelty legislation, the Protection of Animals Act 1911

Protection of Animals Act 1911

The Protection of Animals Act 1911 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It received Royal Assent on 18 August 1911.The act consolidated several previous pieces of legislation, among others repealing the Cruelty to Animals Act 1849 and the Wild Animals in Captivity Protection Act 1900...

, for animals released for coursing. Eric Heffer

Eric Heffer

Eric Samuel Heffer was a British socialist politician. He was Labour Member of Parliament for Liverpool Walton from 1964 until his death. His working-class background and consciousness fed in to his left-wing politics, but to an extent disguised the depth of his knowledge: with 12,000 books in...

, MP for Liverpool Walton

Liverpool Walton (UK Parliament constituency)

Liverpool, Walton is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election.-Boundaries:...

, was a major opponent of coursing in the late 1960s, and Prime Minister Harold Wilson

Harold Wilson

James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...

joined in the criticism. Under his premiership, the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

voted for Government Bills to ban hare coursing in 1969 and 1975, but neither passed the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

to become law. In 2002, the Scottish Parliament

Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...

passed the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act

Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002

The Protection of Wild Mammals Act was passed by the devolved Scottish parliament in February 2002, making Scotland the first part of the United Kingdom to ban traditional fox hunting and hare coursing.-Passage of the Act:...

, which banned hare coursing in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. In 2004 the British Parliament passed the Hunting Act

Hunting Act 2004

The Hunting Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The effect of the Act is to outlaw hunting with dogs in England and Wales from 18 February 2005...

, which banned hare coursing as well as other forms of hunting with hounds

Fox hunting

Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in its current...

with effect from 18 February 2005. Prosecutions were successful against two hare coursers in 2008 and against two Yorkshire landowners in 2009. The private prosecution brought against the organisers of the March 2007 North Yorkshire event organised by a Field Trialling Club clarified in September 2009 that hare coursing is still an illegal activity under the Hunting Act 2004

Hunting Act 2004

The Hunting Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The effect of the Act is to outlaw hunting with dogs in England and Wales from 18 February 2005...

even if the dogs used are muzzle

Muzzle (device)

d.

No formal coursing has taken place in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

since 2002, as Ministers have refused the coursing clubs permission to net hares for coursing and have protected them from being coursed or hunted under the Game Preservation (Northern Ireland) Act and in June 2010 the Northern Ireland Assembly

Northern Ireland Assembly

The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...

voted to ban the practise however the measure has not yet completed it's legislative passage. The two Northern Ireland coursing clubs since 2002 have travelled to the Republic to hold meetings jointly with coursing clubs there. Opinion poll

Opinion poll

An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence...

s commissioned by the League Against Cruel Sports

League Against Cruel Sports

as part of its campaigning have shown very strong public opposition to hare coursing from both urban and rural residents of Northern Ireland and the Republic.

California

In early 2006, the TV channel

Television channel

A television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video and...

ABC 7

KABC-TV

KABC-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, licensed to Los Angeles, California. KABC-TV's studios are located in Glendale, California...

showed a film of coursing with sets of three greyhounds competing in the chase of a number of hares. Coursing was banned in the County concerned

Solano County, California

Solano County is a county located in Bay-Delta region of the U.S. state of California, about halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento and is one of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties. The county's population was reported by the U.S. Census to be 413,344 in 2010...

, and California Assemblywoman Loni Hancock

Loni Hancock

Loni Hancock is currently serving in her first term as the representative of California State Senate District 9. The 9th Senate District currently includes Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Castro Valley, Dublin, El Sobrante, Emeryville, Livermore, Oakland, Piedmont, Richmond, and San Pablo...

promoted a bill, AB2110, to make it a crime for any person in California to engage in open field coursing – defined as a "competition in which dogs are, by the use of rabbits, hares, or foxes, assessed as to skill in hunting live rabbits, hares, or foxes". A pro-coursing campaign was also established. The Bill was passed by the Public Safety Committee but did not become law.

External links

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