 These are exciting times in our efforts to expose, and end, animal abuse. As many supporters may know, for the last number of years ARAN has been organising demonstrations outside of the coursing final meetings that take place annually at Powerstown Park in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. This year’s event was by far the biggest and best supported since demonstrations started back up in 2008. Up to seventy people attended the event that was covered by a TV crew from RTE television. Click here. This footage was shot at the very beginning of the demonstration when people were just arriving. Other groups including the Irish Council Against Blood Sports supported this year’s event - we want to thank them for their help and promotion of this event also. Click here for some short footage of the demonstration. Pictures of the event are also below. The media coverage was also fantastic! Radio stations were speaking with us the morning of the demonstration including stations in Tipperary. Newspapers including The Irish Times and Irish Examiner also covered the event in both online and print articles.What is wrong with hare coursing? The “Sport” is inherently cruel from beginning to end. Hares are snatched from the wild by netting them in their thousands, kept captive in coursing compounds for weeks on end, and then forced to run for their lives. Although the greyhounds are muzzled, hares continue to be struck, tossed into the air and mauled into the ground, which can result in severe injury, broken bones, heart attacks and death. Considering that Northern Ireland has banned this cruel practice, there is no reason why Ireland should continue to cling onto this most shameful, cruel spectacle. ARAN is supporting fresh legislative efforts to bring about an end to hare coursing in Ireland. Defenders of hare coursing continue to assert that the muzzling of greyhounds has eliminated the kill, but the annual monitoring reports, obtained by ARAN under the Freedom of Information Act, say otherwise.
Our members and supporters need to feel incredibly proud of being a part of ARAN. It is fair to say we are now by far the fastest growing animal rights group in the country with people joining daily. Your loyal support and dedication means we are having bigger, stronger and larger events and this means that we are able to expose even more animal abuse. Today’s demonstration at Powerstown Park against hare coursing has proven time and time again that our supporters are our best asset in fighting animal abuse. Our peaceful, mainstream approach is what is bringing huge numbers of new people on board – people who are changing their lives to become kinder advocates for animals. We cannot thank you enough for supporting our work. We can assure you that those who abuse animals and those involved in blood sports do not want you supporting ARAN – if we do not have you, then the group is weaker and it means we will never be effective in our efforts to expose animal abuse.
WHAT CAN YOU DO? Please contact your local TD and urge him or her to support the Private Members Bill by Clare Daly and Maureen O’Sullivan. Urge your TD’s also to be more outspoken about hunting cruelty and other blood sports.
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2013 ANNUAL HARE COURSING DEMONSTRATION GARNERS NATIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE TO SPOTLIGHT ANIMAL ABUSE
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