Saturday, October 2, 1999
Chasing hares stretches Burren pups
The hare-coursing season began last weekend. Sandy Barron went to a meet on the Burren Way in Co Clare. For the tourists and trekkers on a sun-drenched section of the Burren Way in Co Clare last weekend, there were postcard-perfect views of rolling hills, cute cottages, a mirror-still Atlantic - and another, less tranquil, scene. But if the death-chases framed against stunning views near the Cliffs of Moher during the country's first hare-coursing event of the season were surprising for some visitors, they were puzzling in another way, too, for it was dogs instead of hares that ended up dead. Four young greyhounds were put down after breaking their legs at the Liscannor Coursing Club's 71st annual meeting. None of the 89 hares was killed, said the club's president, Morgan O'Loughlin, who doubled as the vet on the scene. The start of the coursing season attracted a couple of hundred dog owners and punters on Saturday and considerably fewer on Sunday. It took place in a sloping field made desultorily festive by a chip van, a roulette stand and toy stands selling mainly shiny jewellery for girls and plastic guns for boys. At warm-up time at the bottom of the slope, handlers had squeezed about 50 hares into a jerry-built shelter made of concrete blocks and covered with tarpaulin and gaily coloured fish netting. A bookie called out: "Long odds lads, come on now - punts, sterling or creamery cheques!" as punters surveyed the field, stunningly framed against a still ocean and the cliffs beyond Lahinch, and checked their official cards. There was plenty to scan: the dogs, the rules, the prize-money ranging from £700 to £2,000, and the names of almost 50 sponsors, including local hostelries like the Falls Hotel in Ennistymon and the Claremont in Lahinch. A whistle blew, a moving hare was silhouetted against a white tarpaulin run at the bottom of the field; talk stopped. As the hare streaked up the hill, the two muzzled dogs in the first heat, Big Edge and Glenwood General, yelped and strained to be let off the leash. Their quarry easily got away under the straw fence at the end of the course. "That was a grand hare," said a punter. The third hare wasn't so hot. "Uh-oh, a slow one," a man remarked as the hare slowed half way up the hill, dogs gaining fast on its pert white bobtail. "Go wan, yrrrrrr, yrrrrrr, yaaaa!" the punters shouted encouragingly. When the dogs reached the bobtail, the hare turned, and the crowd laughed. "They're only pups, they've no experience at this time of year," a commentator adjudged after two dogs opted to snap at each other along the course instead of at the hare. A black greyhound was an even greater disgrace. "You'd need a gun to shoot a fellow like that," one man said of the pup that was clearly confused about who was supposed to be chasing whom. For 10 minutes after he'd raced, the dog declined to be caught, holding up proceedings while he led handlers on a merry dance around the field. Perhaps he'd had an inkling of something, for within minutes one of his successors, a handsome brown and white greyhound on a straight run, suddenly collapsed on the grass, screaming. "Jays, that's a leg broken, and it a favourite, too. That's bad," a man commented as the stricken dog was slung over someone's shoulders and carted off, to be killed, as it later emerged. MOMENTS later the next thrill was up, this time provided by a hare that stopped halfway up the hill to sit in front of the crowd. People egged on the rigid, apparently suicidal animal with a chorus of "Ya, hup, grrrr, go-on-ye!" and it fled, managing to avoid the fate of the hare that came soon after, which was briefly punched to the ground by dogs. At the start box, men and boys were constantly busy, arranging the hares into tunnels inside a long wooden box, roofed with slatted planks. They shifted the hares around by prodding them with sticks, and by spitting and blowing on their heads through the slats. Every so often, a quivering ear, or a round brown eye, rose briefly through the gaps. A little boy tried to impress his father by aiming the barrel of his plastic gun at the animals. Following Irish Coursing Club rules, the 89 hares were released on Monday, said Mr O'Loughlin. "We pursue responsible policies in relation to hares. We're very particular about protecting hares all year," he said. "Others who are shooting hares are doing far more damage as far as hares are concerned," he said. Hare numbers are declining, mainly due to loss of habitat. Philip Samways, chairman of the Irish Council Against Bloodsports, denounced coursing. "There is no place for cruelty like this in a modern European country," he said. More than 40 coursing events are scheduled for October and November around the country.
greyhounds are lucky if they were considered good because they will be hanged outright. If the greyhounds
were not good hunters, they will be hanged with their back feet touching the ground and they will not die
until their legs give out. The Irish greyhounds used for racing in Spain are not treated much better. These dogs will
have to race, whether they have a broken leg (or two or three) or not. There is a group called "Greyhounds
in Need in England that are fighting to save the Spanish Greyhounds. Please check out their web-sight. We applaud Anne Finch and Greyhounds
in need who have spent countless hours traveling and helping out with these greyhounds. People from all over are coming to the aide of these
greyhounds. Here is the U.S. I would like to personally thank the 3 Greyt Girls for hosting and asking others to have Charity Auctions on
Ebay, especially for these greyhounds. The best way to help out these greyhounds is to get in touch with someone who is collecting
money and exchanging it for pounds. If you need names and addresses of people who are collecting money, please e-mail us.
Also in England, there is a group called Greyhound Action. The goal of this group is to
abolish Greyhound racing through public education. This group may be contacted by writing toGREYHOUND ACTION P.O. BOX 127 KIDDERMINSTER, WOORCS DY10 3UZ ENGLAND
or e-mail them If everyone would stand together, the race tracks would not stand a chance unforunately, there are some rescue groups that are afraid. I keep remembering a letter from a lady in Tampa Bay who "was selected by our Board to respond" to one of my letters that was forwarded
to this rescue group from the Humane Society of Tampa Bay. She wrote "You won't find adoption groups like us can do
much in that area. If we do things to make the tracks angry they won't give us any more dogs and they will all die.
We certainly don't want that". This group is afraid of the tracks. Yet they are doing all of the tracks dirty work
for this track. The ex-racers are the garbage of the tracks. They have no use for them when they stop making any money.
These "neutral" adoption groups need to get a back bone. They are part of the reason that greyhound racing is still
going on in the United States. It is these groups that are making it
difficult for those who are trying to end the problem. Neutral Groups are just like putting a band aide on a cut that needs
stitches. I hope that one day, these people will open their eyes. It doesn't take a rocket-scientist to know that if the
tracks quit giving greyhounds to adoption groups, they could go public and go to the news paper and the media. The Race tracks
are not stupid, they just think the "Neutral groups" are.
Austraila
12jul99
THOUSANDS of greyhounds are being killed by callous owners when their racing careers end. An Adopt-A-Greyhound program set up three years ago has found homes for just 150 of the hundreds of failed racing dogs turned in for destruction in Victoria each year. But plans to relax laws that demand all greyhounds be muzzled in public is expected to improve the dogs' image and lift their chances of a new life as a family pet. De-muzzling the dogs offers them their only hope for a new life off the track, said Greyhound Racing Victoria deputy chairman Dr Jim Gannon. "Removing the muzzles will show the public that the dogs can be debriefed and adopted safely as magnificent pets by families with kids, cats and chooks," he said. Sandown Veterinary Clinic vet Dr Gannon said Greyhound Racing Victoria had lobbied the State Government's animal welfare advisory committee to allow ex-racing dogs to go without muzzles. Greyhound Racing Victoria runs the Adopt-A-Greyhound program and wants to increase the numbers of dish-lickers finding new homes. The program trains the dogs not to chase other animals, gets them used to home environments and ensures they are neutered and in peak physical health. "People don't realise greyhounds have to be taught to chase rabbit lures – they are not natural chasers – and it is just as easy to teach them not to chase other animals," Dr Gannon said. The government is expected to overturn the muzzle laws in the next eight weeks. The move has been welcomed by Animals Australia welfare group director Glenys Oogjes. But it comes too late for thousands of failed greyhounds already destroyed by vets or shot by owners. "Many other dogs have simply been abandoned or left neglected and out of sight in the same way old racehorses are," Ms Oogjes said. Sandringham couple Debbie and Robert Ford wanted an odorless, low-allergy dog that would befriend sons William, 10, Jack, 7, and Charlie, 5. "Hope entered our lives through the adoption program and has become a quiet, gentle and extremely loyal member of the family," Mrs Ford said.