ICABS Watch [READ POST #1 BEFORE POSTING]

Sparks

Folks, a new idea here that the mods have been kicking about and today's as good a day as any to launch it with RISE and ARAN both holding demonstrations in Birr and Dublin.

We've all gotten a bit tired over the years of the activities of groups like ICABS, ARAN, the Hunt Sabs and that entire extremist wing of the animal rights movement. Treating animals humanely is something everyone can agree with; but these groups go beyond common sense and straight out into lunacy, defamation and sometimes out-and-out dangerous acts. But while we see court cases taken over licencing issues, we rarely see any of these groups called to account over this sort of malice.

We think perhaps this is because what they do is so spread out that it never gets seen in a single place and so gets ignored, and so we thought maybe if we gathered all the reports of their actions in one place, it could act as an incentive to actually take action.

Hence this thread, a central clearing-place for reports of ICABS, ARAN, Hunt Sab and other daft activity.

Now, this thread will work slightly differently than what we're used to in here, because:

1. We want this thread to be a data source for others to be able to use and trust;
2. We want to avoid giving any of these groups grounds for a defamation case, nuisance or otherwise;
3. We want a high signal-to-noise ratio in this thread.

So, here are the rules for the thread:

• No waffle, no discussion, of any kind. Ever. Meaning no evaluation of ICABS personnel, no speculation on strategies to reply to them, nothing. This thread's to be purely a reporting thread. A knowledgebase, not a talkingshop.
• Because of Sherlock's SI, copyright is an issue so: URLs only linking to letters or other media appearances of ICABS&co. One paragraph from the original source can be quoted, no more. Youtube videos are okay to post, they manage copyright themselves.
• Other threads can handle the bits banned in this thread, unless of course, they'd break the charter.
• Posts that break these rules will wind up moved, edited or out-and-out deleted as necessary (and anyone being an eejit about it may get a slap)

So that's it. We'll be going through the forum, grabbing all the posts we can find that match these rules and copying them into here. All the mods will be watching this thread closely. So if you see anything in the media or the net about the activities of these folks, post it up here.

Fingers crossed it does some good...


edit: Lads, we need sources on the stuff you post...

Sparks

Letter from John Tierney to The Southern Star:

Virginia shooting
SIR—While the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech University is upsetting, the reality is that there are thousands of people in this country of the same ilk who carry out the same homicidal tendencies but instead of a human target direct their lethal firepower towards wild animals and birds.

One shudders to speculate what would happen if Irish live target shooters were prevented from dishing out fear and death to animals and birds.

A debate needs to take place into the need for the existence of any activity that involves the hunting down and killing of wild animals and birds. Such activities cloak a sickness and an evil virus that lead to tragic events like the Virginia Tech University massacre.

Can it only be a matter of time before such an event happens on Irish soil?

Sparks

Ward union was granted a limited licence today.

From breakingnews.ie:

Gormley grants limited licence for Meath stag hunt
19/12/2007 - 12:30:36

The Minister for the Environment John Gormley has issued a limited licence for a controversial stag hunt in Co Meath.

The Ward Union Hunt is the only one in the country involved in carted stag hunting, where a farmed stag is released to be chased by hounds and hunters.

Mr Gormley announced today that he has decided to renew the hunt's licence for a year, but only on condition that the stag be recaptured after laying a scent trail, before the hounds are released and before the hunt gets underway.

The hunt was at the centre of controversy last January when a stag being chased by hounds ran into a school playground as children were waiting to be collected by their parents.

And the ICABS reaction is also up on breakingnews.ie:

Group gives guarded welcome to restricted hunt licence
19/12/2007 - 13:38:40

The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has welcomed the restrictions applied to the Ward Union Hunt Club licence issued in Co Meath for the hunting of deer.

One of the 28 conditions is that the deer will not actually be hunted by dogs.

Instead of having dogs peruse a deer, the animal will be released to lay a scent trail along the course and recaptured before the hounds are freed and the hunt gets under way, the Minister for the Environment John Gormley said.

However, the council was hoping for a complete refusal by Mr Gormley.

And the council is concerned about the fact that the deer shall be driven by mounted riders "to an end point" (to create a scent for the dogs to follow), as they believe this will terrify and stress the deer.

Civil servants will also monitor the meetings in Co Meath to ensure compliance with the conditions of the licence.

“I believe that the conditions attached to the licence address my concerns from a wider public policy perspective about the public safety issues surrounding the hunting of a large animal by a large group on horseback and a pack of hounds through an increasingly urbanised countryside,” said Mr Gormley.

Campaigners picketing outside the Dáil said the move was a step in the right direction, but felt the conditions were unworkable.

Mr Gormley said, before granting the licence, he raised a number of concerns with the hunt, particularly in relation to an incident last January when a stag ran into a school playground in Kildalkey, Co Meath, while parents waited to pick up their children from the school.

He also took into account compliance with previous licence conditions.

The new licence, granted under the Wildlife Act, 1976, states that deer may only be hunted by the Ward Union Hunt Club up to March 31, with the number, sex and location of all deer released and not recaptured reported to the minister.

Only sound, fit and mature deer can be selected for hunting and they must be recaptured without any danger to the animal.

They will be inspected by a veterinary surgeon afterwards and not hunted again for at least 30 days.

The council is concerned that given the manner of recapture, i.e. wrestling the deer to the ground, with at least one deer being choked to death during a previous recapture, that this abuse is to continue.

Bernie Wright, of the Association of Hunt Saboteurs, said it will be hard for the club to keep to the conditions of the licence and to keep the fast animal under control.

“The positive aspect of this is that it is a step in the right direction, but as far as we are concerned we still want the stag taken out of the hunt altogether,” she said with activists outside Leinster House.

“It is a bit of a farce putting a stag through this discomfort, thinking it is being chased and then being caught and put back in a crate.

“The same could be done with drag hunting, by pulling the stag’s scent through a course.

“Personally, I don’t think this is workable and I think it will have to be revoked.”

BryanL

Found on The ICABS site:

09 Heritage Council gives grant to gun club for 2nd year

...
In 2006, following representations from ICABS to the Heritage Council (relating to a massive grant for the eradication of rabbits from an island), we were led to believe that in the future, the Heritage Council would consider avoiding projects with connections to animal killing. A Heritage Council spokesperson stated at the time: "The Heritage Council will address this more seriously in the grant programme from here on out. I would hope that for the 2007 round of grant awards, policy advice in this area will have been developed and issued from the Heritage Council where necessary."

ICABS has renewed its appeal to the Heritage Council to give a commitment that no further funds will be awarded to groups involved in the killing of Irish wildlife. Please help by responding to the action alert below.

jap gt

donedeal has banned ads selling working dogs

From the ICABS site:

SUCCESS: Donedeal drops ads for dogs used in blood sports
19 March 2010

Irish classified ads website, Donedeal.ie, has responded positively to an Irish Council Against Blood Sports appeal in which we called for a rejection of ads for dogs used in hunting, baiting, digging-out and terrierwork. A big thumbs up to the Wexford-based company for updating its dog policy and beginning the process of permanently removing such ads.

Grizzly 45

Found on the ICABS site:

ICABS has called on readers of the Irish Independent not to purchase cruel bird traps. Featured as a "Reader Offer" in a catalogue in the Independent of July 17th, the cruel Larsen trap is used to catch magpies and other birds.
...
Designed in Denmark in the 1950s, these cruel traps are now banned there due to the suffering caused. They use a permanently trapped bird to lure in other birds. They fly down on to the trap, fall through a collapsing floor and find themselves trapped too.
Before being brutally killed, they will be overcome with the fear and stress of confinement. Some will suffer hunger and thirst as well as broken beaks and cut heads from futile attempts to smash their way to freedom. When magpie parents are caught, their orphaned chicks will starve to death in nests.

Found on the ICABS site:

The National Parks and Wildlife Service has been asked by ICABS to remove links to hunting licence forms from the homepage of its website

The links are to application forms for "Hunting Fauna in State-Owned Foreshore" and "Capture/Kill Protected Wild Animals for Educational or Scientific Purposes".
In our correspondence to the body, we commented that the links act as an advertisement for hunting and killing and possibly as an encouragement to apply. "Given that the NPWS's primary role is to conserve wildlife and to engender in the public a respect for fauna, we believe it is inappropriate for links relating to the hunting, capturing and killing of animals to be on permanent, prominent display on the front page of your site," we stated.

Grizzly 45

Found on the ICABS site:

The Archdiocese of Tuam has been thanked for removing from its website the names and contact details for 11 local gun clubs.
Church authorities were reminded of Paragraph 2418 of the Catholic Catechism which states that it is "contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer and die needlessly". Irish gun clubs are responsible for the killing of thousands of creatures every year. These include deer, hares, rabbits, foxes and birds. Animals that should be free to live peacefully in the countryside are blasted to death for the enjoyment of merciless hunters.

ICABS has learned that at least 48,000 euro has been handed over to gun clubs from funds generated by the National Lottery.
The money was granted between 2001 and 2009 by the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism as part of the National Lottery-funded Sports Capital Programme.
In an email to the Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan, T.D, ICABS pointed out that the National Lottery money given to the Department of Finance for distribution is intended for "Good Causes".
The Lottery advertises this clearly on its website and literature, adding that "every time you play a National Lottery game you are making a very positive impact on local communities".
"Many people would struggle to comprehend how a gun club could ever qualify as a good cause. They would also not recognise the blasting to death of wild animals and birds as constituting a positive impact," we stated. "We find it abhorrent that a single cent would be handed over to those who take pleasure in blasting foxes, hares, rabbits, deer and birds to death."
Not only is the funding of gun clubs objectionable on the grounds that it helps support the destruction of our wildlife but also due to the fact that it is taking money away from genuine good causes which are constantly struggling to finance their activities.
The National Lottery has distanced itself from the funding of gun clubs. A spokesperson stated: "The National Lottery's role is to raise funds for good causes on behalf of the Government and we have no involvement in its distribution. Monies raised by the National Lottery go to the Department of Finance who in turn distributes it to other Government Departments."

Sparks

Story on TheJournal.ie today notes that ICABS are using NPWS reports to push for hare coursing to be banned under the upcoming Animal Welfare Bill. The Minister said back in March that this wouldn't happen, but now they're pushing a private members bill specifically to ban coursing.

The Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports (CACS) says that there are references in the reports to hares being struck and mauled, as well as being pinned and dying from their injuries.
The reports were obtained by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports (ICABS) via a Freedom of Information application. Aideen Yourell of the ICABS told TheJournal.ie that data is obtained each year in the aftermath of the coursing season in order to expose the practice and to make lists of “the kills”.

Seems that John FitzGerald (from ICABS) is now commenting on that Journal article.

John FitzGerald wrote:

this “sport” is a criminal offence in most countries. In Australia for example the greyhound industry is embarrassed to have to admit that live coursing was EVER part of it, such is the level of revulsion among even the most ardent greyhound fans for the setting up of timid animals as bait in a sadistic and inherently practise. Videos made by the coursing clubs themselves show the chilling savagery to which harres are subjected for a cheap thrill. I would question the veracity of that claim re a school class being given a promotional film. If true, it would be a matter for the Department of Education to investigate.

Sparks

Broadsheet.ie covers the ICABS protest against greyhound racing outside a BoyleSports.com betting shop. Comments by John Fitzgerald :

John Fitzgerald wrote:

they are sincere people who find deliberate cruelty to animals for “sport” objectionable. The “gombeens” are the ones who accept such sadistic practices or facilitate them for grubby political gain. Having an animal frightened out of its wits, or having it torn or blown apart, might be some people’s idea of fun, but increasingly human beings are turning against blood sports, as we see from comments on internet forums and the results of professional opinion polls. I recently came across a group called “Make Friends with Guns”. They’d got all sorts of pictures of animals and birds either dead or dying and expected a great reaction from other “sport” lovers. Instead, the site had to close down. Changing times, thank God.

Grizzly 45

Exerpt from Maureen O Sulivan TD[Noted ICABS spokeswoman] speech on the Animal welfare bill. The whole speech is here.
http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/2012/07/18/00005.asp


[quote=Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan[/quote] It is appropriate that, even though they relate to the remits of two Ministers, we are debating the Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2012 in advance of dealing with the Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012. The Bill before the House is technical in nature and deals with the current hunting licence provisions relating to the shooting of wild birds and hares during open season. In the hunting of birds there is a need to put in place a protocol on the numbers of certain species hunted in order that we might monitor the impact. We must ensure changes in the level of hunting pressure are monitored and I wonder how it is proposed to do this. There is also a need to review the listed species of birds which are hunted in open season, particularly as some of these are of concern, both nationally and on an EU basis, in terms of their conservation. Wildlife in Ireland is a good indicator of the impact of environmental changes and, therefore, the question of monitoring is significant. We are aware that some species such as the breeding curlew and other breeding wader species are suffering a serious decline in numbers.[/quote]

Sparks

ICABS letter in the Examiner's Letters to the Editor page entitled Cub-killing is a warm-up for fox-hunting season

John Tierney wrote:

Fox-cub hunting is brutal, accompanied by a soundtrack of screaming foxes, howling hounds and the violence-laced yelps of hunt officials. The drive is to mould the hounds into one single killing unit, ready and able to do the huntsman’s bidding on the hunting day. A well-blooded hunt pack will ensure that when the scent is patchy on the hunting day, they will have the drive to keep looking for their fox.

Sparks

Old Warick. wrote: »

RISE will be holding a rally at the game fair being held in Birr on the 26th of August. A big day for all fieldsports.
Oh, and the anti's have decided to have a protest in Dublin on the same day.

The Journal are covering the ARAN march here along with comments, like this one from John FitzGerald:

I believe there should be psychiatric intervention to find what makes hare coursing fans tick. I have seen them, whoop for joy and applaud as hares were terorised and savagely mauled by dogs. The exemption for hare coursing in the Aniimal Welfare Bill makes a mockery of what the Bill seeks to achieve. Feral cats need protection too, as at present these animals are being targeted by trigger-happy so-called “sportsmen”.

Grizzly 45

www.banbloodsports.com
www.aran.ie
www.directactionireland.com
www.huntsabsireland.org
www.badgerwatchireland.com
www.naracampaigns.org
http://www.vegaplanet.org/
http://www.animalliberationfront.com search the site under Ireland
www.indymedia.ie subsection animal rights ireland.
http://www.afarireland.org/

Sparks

John Tierney (Hunt Sabs) writes on the letters to the editors pages of the Irish Times and Irish Examiner stating that Irish firearms ownership should not be permitted on the basis of the mass shooting at a screening of the latest Batman movie in Denver:

Irish Times wrote:

In light of the Denver cinema shooting, Irish society should not be lulled into thinking that these incidents happen only in faraway countries. While our firearm- owning community is small in size, the potential for a member within its ranks to run amok within a public setting exists. The fact the firearms owners are allowed to blast away at the non-humans of society acts like a safety insulation blanket. We can all relax as the pent-up aggression and physiological issues of firearms-owners are projected on to non-human targets. Despite strict firearms laws, firearms both legal and illegal flow like water through the veins of Irish society. Held by people who need the weight of a firearm to feel alive and are a gun-cock away from proving their macho credentials.

Irish Examiner wrote:

In light of the Denver cinema shooting Irish society should not be lulled into thinking that these incidents only happen in faraway countries. While our firearm-owning community is small in size, the potential for a member within its ranks to run amok within a public setting exists. The fact the firearms owners are allowed to blast away at the non-humans of society acts like a safety insulation blanket. We can all relax as the pent-up aggression and physiological issues of firearms owners are projected onto non-human targets. Firearm ownership draws in the flotsam of society, people searching for an identity and a way of expressing their view of how society should operate. Within their cordite-soaked minds they see themselves as defenders of a free society. For them, the solution to any problem they encounter can be found within a bullet casing.

Sparks

John Tierney (Hunt Sabs) writes to the letters page of the Examiner calling for a referendum on animal rights to piggyback on the upcoming childrens rights referendum:

John Tierney wrote:

There is a layer of Irish society that remains handcuffed to the traditions of the dark ages. For them, animals are objects to use, exploit and abuse. Existing in the constituency of human abusers animal abusers shuttle between animal and human targets with ease.
...
Children are suffering and animals are suffering. Both are united in a common desire for the abuse to stop. With child protection measures on the way when will it be the turn of animals to enjoy an abuse-free environment? If not now, then when?

Sparks

Comment by John Fitzgerald on TheJournal.ie regarding personnel at the Birr fair:

At fairs promoting bloodsports you see stalls and smiling PR people standing behind them. You don’t see the hares being mauled by the dogs, or the fox having the skin ripped from its bones, or the bird or animal riddled with lead for “sport”. The truth hurts Mark, doesn’t it?

And another:

To Mark Denehey…No need to name any one hunter or courser as it it the what they do that counts, and this is what we object to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufbvbSbFLok
and
http://www.banbloodsports.com

Sparks

More letters in the Examiner's letters pages from John Tierney:
Friday, December 24, 2010

The actions of the Irish hare coursing community have been well documented. Many hares will end their lives for the Christmas entertainment of people who are strangers to compassion and respect for life. The fox hunting community use the St Stephen’s day meets as a major public relations exercise. The public is shown the Christmas card image of fox hunting; red-coated riders throwing back glasses of hot port surrounded by packs of big lovable hounds who demand affection. What is kept hidden is the sole reason for this gathering, that is to hunt down, terrorise and kill one of nature’s most harmless animals — the fox. Fox hunting with packs of hounds is organised pre-mediated animal cruelty. There is no justification for it; be it on moral, economic or cultural grounds.

Saturday, August 04, 2007

THE tragic event in Wicklow involving the deaths of three people in a domestic situation calls into question the need for having firearms in the family home. Is the presence of firearms a tipping point for a person who gets involved in a domestic dispute and, instead of storming out, heads for the gun cabinet to end the dispute once and for all? No need exists for having a firearm.
...
So why do people own and use firearms? Can the reason be that is gives them a sense of self-importance in a world where they just exist? That having a firearm sets them apart from the crowd? Those who channel their killing thoughts via the barrel of a gun on an animal are just a step away from moving the target to human beings.

Monday, May 08, 2006

By accepting money from fundraising events held by bloodsports interests, charities are aligning themselves with animal cruelty. Charities risk losing the support of people if they persist in accepting money from such groups. It would say a lot for the moral standing of a charity if it made a public statement that it will not accept monies from events organised by bloodsports groups.

Tuesday, May 03, 2011

The Irish greyhound suffers appalling treatment in Ireland from those greyhounds owners, breeders and trainers who emote animal welfare concerns but in reality only see greyhounds are a means to a profit.

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Hunt kennels are run as animal killing centres. Hounds are bred each year and those who fail to make the hunting grade are put to sleep without a backward glance. For hounds that have come to the end of the hunting career a few years of loyal service is met with a meeting with the business end of a needle.

Sparks

Letters in the Independent's Letters to the Editor pages from John Tierney:

Wednesday October 07 2009

Shine a spotlight on hunt kennels

Hunt kennels are run as animal killing centres. Hounds are bred each year and those who fail to make the hunting grade are put to sleep without a backward glance. For hounds that have come to the end of their hunting career, a few years of loyal service is rewarded with the business end of a needle.

Sunday July 17 2011

Jump at chance to ban coursing

The annual application by the Irish Coursing Club for a licence to conduct live hare coursing has landed on his desk. A ban would see Ireland crawl out of the gutter in terms of the treatment of animals.

Tuesday August 31 2010

New season of coursing cruelty

The existence of hare coursing exposes a layer of Irish society populated by people who have inoculated themselves against showing compassion toward living creatures. Hare coursing is a barbaric activity enjoyed by those who have lost all touch with a conscience.

Wednesday September 10 2008

Gormley sell-out on hare coursing

The capitulation by John Gormley, Minister for the Environment, to the hare-coursing and hare-hunting community in order to allow another season of animal abuse is an act of political treachery. Despite overwhelming evidence that hare coursing and hare hunting is an cruel unnecessary activity and Mr Gormley's views on animal welfare Irish hare hunters got permission to abuse this timid creature for their perverted needs.

Sunday January 03 2010

Hunt ban not a class issue

The issue of class has never been part of a campaign to end animal suffering on Ireland's killing fields. The abuse of animals is an injustice. The philosophy of animal rights demands the abolition of abuse in all forms and shapes. It is not the details of unjust exploitation that must be changed. It is exploitation itself that must be ended, on the hunting field, the farm, in the laboratory and in the wild.

Thursday May 04 2006

A donation from the Hunt

One of the more disgusting elements of the pro-bloodsports campaign is the use of charities by hunt organisations as part of their public relations efforts.
Each year around the country, bloodsports groups organise quaint sounding events like fun rides and cross-country treks to raise funds for local charities. From cancer research to local hospices, no charity organisation is left untouched by bloodsports followers to exploit for public relations purposes.

Sunday July 01 2007

Eagle eye on environment

The farmer-led opposition to the reintroduction of the White-tailed Sea Eagle to the Irish countryside exposes the farming lobby to the claim that they are anti-conservation. Farmers would like to portray themselves as guardians of the countryside, but the new-found concern for sheep welfare by Kerry sheep farmers masks the fact that animal welfare standards are less than ideal on many Irish farms.

Sunday March 02 2008

Mentality of the lynch mob rules

t was always going to be a struggle to bring conservation measures to fruition in the Irish countryside. There is an inherent animosity towards wildlife by elements of the farming community supported by Ireland's hunting community. When it comes to understanding the role of wildlife in the countryside elements of the farming community respond by using weapons of the weak: gun, snare, hunting dog, slurry and poison. It is clear that our wildlife and the countryside it lives in are under attack by a rural al-Qaeda drawn from the farming and hunting communities.

Thursday July 26 2007

No need to own a gun

So why do people own and use firearms? Can the reason be that it gives them a sense of self-importance in a world where they just exist? Having a firearm sets them apart from the crowd. Kitchen table murders are become common in our society. Is this an indication that for some firearm owners the thrill of shooting animals and birds has become stale, more excitement is needed?

Friday June 22 2007

Eagles show farmers in true colours

Farmers would like to portray themselves are guardians of the countryside, tuning into Mother Earth’s frequency as they use their special powers when it comes to dealing with animals. Methinks farmers are spending too much time inhaling slurry tank fumes if they believe that. If we left the protection of the environment and animals to farmers we would end up with countryside devoid of wildlife, covered in concrete and with our rivers and streams reeking of pollution.

Wednesday April 19 2006

Animal abuse is a sickness

Until all forms of hunting with dogs are rendered illegal, society cannot deal with the issue of animal abuse. Those who enjoy abusing animals can bed themselves down in local hunt and shooting clubs. Under this blanket, some of most vicious individuals of our community can carry out acts of animal abuse in a social and public setting. Animal abusers are pathologically vicious. They give out an appearance of normality in human society but are a viable danger to animals and humans alike.

Tuesday December 13 2005

Bloody Christmas

This reaches a peak on St. Stephen's Day, which is a traditional time for hunts meets and hare coursing events. On this day, there will be an increased countrywide organised assault on our already hard-pressed wildlife by a minority of the population. It is difficult to understand how these people can square the Christian message of kindness and compassion which prevails at Christmas with the brutality and degeneracy that lie at the core of bloodsports.

Tuesday March 21 2006

Murky, cruel world of the badger baiter

A world in which badger baiters and their fellow legal blood-sports travellers pollute with their callousness and unfeeling presence. Our government needs to adopt a zero tolerance to wildlife crime. A first step would be to put legislation in place to outlaw all forms of legal hunting. This would remove the cloak of legality from those who believe themselves to be above the wildlife legislation in this country.

Sparks

Press release from the IAHS published on Indymedia:

PRESS RELEASE .
From The Association of Hunt Saboteurs.

OUTRAGE as our CAMPAIGNS DIRECTOR JOHN TIERNEYis sentenced to TWO MONTHS IN JAIL for using an AIR HORN at the St Stephens Day Anti- Hunt Protest.
Anti hunting activists are outraged at the TWO MONTH jail sentence imposed today at Waterford District Court on John Tierney, a leading anti hunt campaigner.He is Campaigns Director of the AOHS.

The Judge also said that if Mr Tierney appealed the sentence he hoped it would be increased to THREE Months instead of Two .The judge Mr William Harnett is well known for his pro hunt comments. This leaning further came to light when he said at the comparison of the air horn to the hunting horn ' it was not like the slow sweet sound of the hunting horn.'

The trumped up, so called offence was supposedly a 'public order offence ' which as far as we are concerned was ludicrous and a blatant discriminatory charge against all anti hunting activists.

It related to the St Stephens Day protest in Waterford which appeared on RTE news along with the Association of Hunt Saboteurs other protest in Kells that Day. The summons arrived at Mr Tierneys door some months later.

*If its illegal to use air horns which are sold legally in joke shops throughout the country for football matches and other such events why are'nt football supporters being arrested ?

We will fight this every step of the way," Mr Tierney hopefully will appeal tomorrow. Its a sad day when someone standing up to animal abusers is treated like a common criminal in a blatant attempt to stop protests at foxhunts."

Another of William Harnetts comments was that if 'someone near Mr Tierney at the protest had assaulted him, he(the person assaulting him) would not have been charged"

Comment on Indymedia from John Tierney in relation to this:

Just a note
by John Tierney - Association of Hunt Saboteurs Sun Jun 22, 2003 23:31

Just a note to the Irish animal abuse community this sentence will not in any way hinder my efforts to remove your sick and evil activities from our society.

The charges against me were false, the sentence imposed was a mockery of justice and fair play but the end result is a more determined animal rights activist. Victory will be ours.

Also, I would like to thank all those who have given me support over the past few days. It was very much appreciated. Thanks and best wishes.

John Tierney
Campaigns Director AOHS
Tears don't count only ACTION

From the Independent:

Anti-blood sports protester jailed

A LEADING anti-blood sport protester who sounded an air horn at a traditional St Stephen's Day hunt meeting was jailed for two months yesterday. John Tierney (40), unemployed, of Larchville, Waterford was convicted at Waterford District Court of threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour at the Waterford Hunt, Tramore on December 26, 2002. Judge William Harnett described Tierney's behaviour as highly dangerous and reckless and said children and adults could have been in danger.

Sparks

Letters in the Independent's Letters to the Editor page from John Fitzgerald, CACS:

Tuesday December 13 2011

Goodwill hunting

Some shooters add song birds to their killing lists, blowing away blackbirds, song thrushes, wrens, chaffinches and, yes, the very symbol of Christmas itself, the robin redbreast. The excuse offered is that these birds make smaller and therefore more challenging targets, the shallowest of motives. Shooting "for the pot" is one thing, with the acquisition of food as the stated aim, but how can one justify killing the singers?

Friday January 02 2009

A happy hunting ground is a drag

THE array of colourful hunting scenes in the Irish Independent (December 27) gave the impression that live animal baiting (fox and stag hunting) is a harmless, life-enhancing activity, with everyone involved having a lovely time in a festive wonderland atmosphere. But these seasonal pictures are utterly misleading and fail to hint at the cruelty to animals that is an integral part of hunting.

Tuesday August 26 2008

Hare today, gone tomorrow . . .

This threat to the Irish hare is compounded by a decline in numbers in recent years owing to a multiplicity of factors. Modern farm practices that deprive it of habitat and food militate against its survival and well-being. But so do the activities of over 70 coursing clubs that scour the countryside in search of hares to serve as live bait.

Tuesday March 11 2008

Irish hare is thrown lifeline

In previous years the country's 22 registered beagling clubs, not content with five full months of organised bloodletting, requested and received government approval to pursue their obsessive killing of hares into March.
This meant that breeding females could be legally baited in that month.
Some day, hopefully, the Irish hare will be protected from all forms of cruelty, the whole year round

Monday August 11 2008

Fox gives RDS the brush-off

While playing a central role in a typical day's hunting in the countryside, An Madra Rua failed to put in an appearance on the very day when thousands of TV viewers could have seen for themselves how he gets such a thrill out of being chased by hounds, and how being caught and savaged by them doesn't bother him a bit, as we know from the Hunting Association of Ireland. The fox hunters lost a golden opportunity to win over all those ignorant folk who believe hunting is cruel, or unfair, to the fox.

Sunday March 16 2008

Ireland must ban beagling

Beagling is an indefensible and barbaric blood sport. Hares are hounded for miles across country by the packs, followed by gangs of sight-seers and hangers-on, until exhaustion delivers them to the dogs to be torn to pieces. Male and female hares, young and old, serve as pawns in the beagling game. The object of the exercise is simply to catch and kill them. Eyes bulge with stark terror and blood seeps into the ground when the packs make contact with their quarry. The dying hares writhe in agony. They scream like babies as the dogs disembowel them -- a sound that once heard is never forgotten.

Thursday July 26 2007

The "sport" involves the pursuit with hounds of a farmed or domesticated stag that is released from a horse cart for the chase. Mounted hunters and sightseers follow the horses and hounds in land rovers. The hunt chases the animal across country for an hour or two until it collapses from exhaustion. In the course of being chased, the stag is severely injured, getting tangled up in barbed wire, thorn bushes and brambles along the way. Some hunted stags have dropped dead from heart attacks. Others have drowned in rivers into which they were hounded. Others again have been beaten half to death with sticks for failing to run.

Wednesday June 06 2007

Fair deal for furry friends

I am not suggesting that the hare that is snatched from its home in the countryside and then forced to run for its life from hyped-up greyhounds should take precedence over the need to maintain our thriving Celtic Tiger economy.

Nor would I dare to suggest that concern about the pain and suffering inflicted by the rich and famous on our majestic stags ought to divert precious government time and resources from the urgent business of running the country.

Hare coursing, fox hunting and stag hunting can be swiftly obliterated from our green (and soon to be greener?) island by an aptly worded Wildlife Protection Bill. No adverse economic consequences worth mentioning would ensue from such a move.

Wednesday August 15 2007

Saving stags is a saint's work

Our own Saint Aidan of Ferns, who died in 626 AD, had his own encounter with stag hunters. While studying in a hermitage in Connacht, he was distracted by the baying of hounds and the excited shouts of hunters. He emerged to behold a scene of terror and mayhem. The serenity of his retreat was marred by the spectacle of a stag, covered in blood. The horrendous cruelty of the scene aroused his compassion for God's creatures. According to the saint's testimony, he then performed a miracle -- he made the stag invisible, thus saving it from the hunt.

Call me superstitious and a religious nut if you like, but I believe the minister will receive his just reward if he bans stag hunting in Ireland -- when the saints come marching in!

Wednesday September 27 2006

Hares being wiped out

A coursing club in the midlands was recently caught red-handed in the act of capturing hares outside the time frame permitted by law. A wildlife officer found a number of terrified captives on the grounds of the club concerned before September 1, the date from which netting was permitted.

This may seem like nit picking on our part, given that we are opposed to hare coursing itself and not just to technical violations by clubs of the various rules and conditions. However, while concerned at the cruelty of coursing, we are equally alarmed at the fact that the future of the Irish hare as a species is threatened by coursing and hunting activities.

Sunday January 08 2006

Fox's brush with the hunt

I commend Antonia Leslie for telling us the shocking unvarnished truth about fox-hunting. Stripped of its picture postcard image of colourful village scenes, with huntspeople setting off past snow-capped cottages to enjoy a little harmless fun, this horrible bloodsport is revealed in all its ugliness.

Sunday June 06 2010

Getting tough on gun control

n the wake of the tragic mass murders in Cumbria, I suggest we need to address our own growing gun culture in Ireland, where over 220,000 firearms are legally held by citizens. True, our Government has endeavoured to clamp down on gangland gun ownership and illegal possession of firearms.

The problem, however, is that the vast majority of guns used in non-gangland murders, in suicides, in attempts to kill or injure a spouse or partner in domestic disputes, or in killings legally defined as manslaughter cases in Ireland, are legally held ones.

Friday March 27 2009

'Blooding' is simply too cruel

This practice is widespread in Ireland, and an integral part of both greyhound racing and hare coursing. Trainers are keenly aware that a dog is likely to perform better on the track or coursing field if it savages a still live rabbit, hare or cat. The taste of blood is deemed to give it an edge over competitors.

The trainer ties the animal to a pole, and waits until the dog has been whipped up into a frenzy of bloodlust before releasing it to attack the terrified captive. Or the animal's back legs are broken so that the dog catches it within seconds and rips it apart.

Sunday June 27 2010

Irish hares need our protection

If pet dogs running amok on the North Bull can reduce life expectancy in hares and increase the risk of cardiovascular breakdown, and the department accepts that this is the case, then how on earth can it justify permitting thousands of hares to be captured with nets, snatched from their natural environment, confined in unnatural conditions for up to eight weeks (hares are solitary creatures that lack the herd mentality), and then forced to run in terror from pairs of greyhounds in the presence of a cheering crowd?

Monday September 14 2009

Hare coursing is simply cruel

Hare coursing is shameful. Every animal welfare association in the world opposes it, as does, according to every opinion poll, the vast majority of the Irish people. Now is the time for Mr Gormley to pull the plug on this pathetic excuse for a sport.

Monday October 12 2009

Fox and hare will have their day

For decades, the majestic stag has had to run for its life from packs of hounds, mounted riders, and scores of hunt followers, racing behind in jeeps and motorbikes. Fleeing its frenzied pursuers in terror, the stag suffered extensive injuries, after becoming entangled in barbed wire or brambles, or attempting to swim across rivers and, sometimes, drowning in the process. By the end of a hunt, the animal had dropped to the ground from sheer exhaustion, covered in blood and muck, panting and wheezing; its eyes bulging with fear. And the intention of the hunt wasn't even to kill the animal, it was just to put it through this harrowing ordeal for "sport".

Tuesday August 04 2009

Decision time on hare coursing

At these, the hares will be forced to run from greyhounds in large wired enclosures, to escape through a narrow hatch . . . or be mauled, injured, killed, or tossed about like broken dolls. All for the purpose of fun and gambling. Many of the targeted hares will never see coursing day. They will die of injuries while being netted or in the course of the unnatural captivity to which these wild creatures are subjected.

Wednesday July 13 2011

Deenihan should consider heroics of Byrne before granting hare licences

Many of us have been moved by the heroism of John Byrne, the homeless man who jumped into the Liffey to save his pet rabbit. Equally, I'm sure the majority of us abhor the act of the young man who threw the animal in. I can't help but reflect on the contrast between the decency and compassion of Mr Byrne and the plans being laid by over 70 coursing clubs right now for another season of hare baiting.

Thursday December 17 2009

Stag hunting was never our culture

Stag hunting fans claimed at their indoor rally earlier this week that their sport was fair and humane and an essential part of Irish tradition; and they asked why the only hunt in Ireland that didn't aim to kill its quarry was being singled out for abolition. I can't think of anything less sporting than setting a pack of hounds after a stag and forcing it to run for miles in terror and desperation. The very obvious fear in its bulging eyes after the end of a hunt, its stressful condition, and the blood seeping from its numerous wounds inflicted by brambles, thorns, and strands of barbed wire along the route, surely underline the decidedly unsporting nature of stag hunting.

Saturday April 14 2007

Now the hunter becomes the hunted

"We serve the farmers well by keeping down the fox population" they say, before, almost in the same breath telling us that "sure, we hardly ever catch a fox, most of them get away". So which is it? They cannot be controlling fox numbers if they seldom catch the wily creatures. "The farmers and country folk love us and extend a warm welcome to hunts in the countryside", they say, despite the pages full of hunt ban notices from farmers that appear in the provincial print media at the start of every hunting season. "We hate to see a fox get caught, we're only in it for the chase and the clean fresh air of the countryside," they say, and yet every hunt employs men with spades and terriers to dig out any fox that goes to ground, so that the trapped and terrified animal can then be tossed to the pack. "Foxes take hens and lambs, so farmers breathe a sigh of relief when the hunt arrives," they assure us. These, one presumes, would be the farmers whose fields of crops are not churned up by rampaging horses and hounds, and whose herds are not scattered to the four winds by the "fox-controlling" hunt cavalry. "We rarely catch the strong, healthy foxes. It's mainly the old, sick and diseased ones." A peculiar "sport" that targets the old, sick and diseased. And wouldn't the strong, healthier fellows pose a greater threat to poultry or lambs?

Thursday November 12 2009

Animal abuse is no surprise

A dog was doused with petrol, set alight, and tossed over a wall in Finglas (Irish Independent, November 10). Not a day passes without us hearing about animals being ill-treated in one way or another. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of these incidents should contact the gardai. I blame to some extent the fact that we have legal cruelty to animals in the form of so-called field sports like hare coursing, fox hunting and stag hunting.

Friday May 07 2010

Greens doing best for wildlife

Mr Finn believes that carted stag hunting is a "harmless and beneficial sport" and that the stag hunters "cherish and protect wildlife in a natural environment". Hounding any animal for miles across country until it falls down from exhaustion, injured, can hardly be described as "harmless" and cannot be said to benefit the stag.

Thursday March 25 2010

Hunters in denial over cruelty

I know that the bloodsport fraternity is getting pretty desperate in the face of an upcoming government ban on carted stag hunting, but this claim makes one wonder if hunters are living in a parallel universe.

Then again, maybe I'm being unfair to them. Maybe the fox has no problem with having a pack of hounds chase him for miles across country prior to having the skin ripped off its bones for fun. And maybe the farmed stags used in carted hunts are not frightened by the experience of being hounded for between two and five hours, by having to negotiate briars and brambles and barb-wire fencing in an attempt to elude their pursuers.

Monday December 21 2009

Time to kill off the stag hunt

in addition to it being the season to be jolly, it's also the time of year when deer in parts of Co Meath and north Co Dublin have to run in fear from humans who terrorise them for fun.

They insist it's a wonderful pastime, even when deer being chased bounce off the bonnets of cars and lorries as they seek to evade baying packs of hounds and hunt followers.

Friday May 28 2010

Wider dangers of animal cruelty

The link between animal cruelty and violence against humans is well established. For example, the two boys who killed two-year-old James Bulger had been seen by neighbours twisting the heads off live pigeons and torturing cats prior to the murder.

Our politicians have made a start on getting rid of "respectable" animal cruelty by drawing up legislation to ban the practise of carted stag hunting.

Sunday January 06 2008

Stop bizarre deer hunting 'sport'

His aim has been to prevent the infliction of unnecessary suffering and distress on the stags that the Ward Union Hunt, up until recently, was free to hound to exhaustion and often agonising injury.

If the hunters can't operate the new licence conditions controlling their hobby, they can always switch to drag hunting, where none of those irritating restrictions will apply and they can ride to their heart's content.

They can gallop as free as the wind, blow their horns, listen to dogs snarling and barking, and then drink hot toddies or whatever in the pub afterwards.

For all their big talk about bringing the minister to heel on this issue, I reckon he is a master political tactician, superior to anyone these high fliers have encountered in their bid to dress up cruelty and countryside mayhem as sport.

Sunday December 30 2007

Hunters kill the Christmas spirit

And little hares, the gentlest and most inoffensive occupants of the countryside, will again be used as pawns in a gruesome and utterly stupid game of chance in which blood-crazed dogs will be egged on to chase and terrorise them.

And let's not leave out those delightful gentlemen of leisure, the "tourist shooters". Every winter, they litter the fields and boreens of rural Ireland with shattered and broken carcasses -- for sport and recreation.

They have quelled many a singing voice that would put the best of the You're a Star contestants to shame.

They blast away at everything that moves, including larks, thrushes, blackbirds ... and yes, the lovely robin.

Friday December 21 2007

Stag hunting dies by thousand cuts

Animal protection groups have lobbied for decades against this bloodsport.

There were few sights more memorable or distressing than that of a once proud stag on the point of exhaustion; bleeding, its tongue steaming; its battered frame encircled by howling dogs and jeering spectators.

Stags that refused to budge when dropped from the crates were goaded and beaten with sticks, as residents of a Meath village testified in a submission to the Department of the Environment.

Wednesday November 21 2007

No thrill in the chase of stag hunting

I would argue that this makes the sport even more cruel and unacceptable than activities in which animals are killed for reasons of food or pest control.

The stags are invariably used as playthings by the hunters.

They are hounded and terrorised for fun, for no other reason than to give a cheap thrill to a bunch of tin-pot aristocrats and social climbers decked out in fancy dress.

Monday September 24 2007

View of hunting is out of touch

It helps him to keep his "eye in" on the racetrack, he says as if that justified chasing a terrified semi-domesticated stag across fields and over ditches, to be cut and torn in tangles of barbed wire and pushed by organised bullying to the limits of its endurance.

All for a laugh.

Mr Carberry may be an Irish racing icon, but his waffling romanticised depiction of stag hunting is an assault on reality.

Tuesday September 11 2007

FF are condoning 'cruel' coursing

Hare coursing continues thanks to a powerful lobby within the Fianna Fail party. The best known and possibly the most dedicated member of this group is Tanaiste Brian Cowen.

I totally respect Mr Cowen's right to hold any opinion he wishes, but I wonder if he has considered the feelings of an estimated 70pc to 80pc (according to marketing surveys) of Irish people who oppose hare coursing and want it banned.

I cannot understand how such a talented man, with a brilliant legal mind and vast political experience, can throw his weight behind such an abhorrent practice.

The simple truth is that they are condoning and supporting one of the most inhuman forms of animal cruelty.

Friday June 04 2010

We need better control of guns

In the wake of the tragic mass murders in Cumbria, I suggest we need to address our own growing gun culture in Ireland, where in excess of 220,000 firearms are legally held by citizens.

The problem, however, is that the vast majority of guns used in non-gangland murders, in suicides, in attempts to kill or injure a spouse or partner in domestic disputes, or in killings legally defined as manslaughter cases in Ireland, are legally held.

Sparks

Letters from John Fitzgerald (CACS) to the Letters to the Editor page of the Irish Examiner:

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Why put ourselves on a plate for alien life form?

Fine, if we make contact with a benign species that subscribes to a compassionate lifestyle, universal peace and harmony, etc. That’s the kind of being we’d like to hear from. But we just might be visited — or invaded — by beings that are as far removed from us intellectually as we are from other species on our own planet. They could opt to avail of us in the way we have exploited the animal kingdom. And what could be our argument against that? On what ethical basis could we object to being subjected to the same treatment that we have meted out for so long to the "lesser species"? Visualise the factories, breeding establishments and rendering plants built to turn us into dinner for our new masters.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Issue of animal cruelty practices not ‘misdirected, despite criticism

There is abundant evidence that animals in circuses are ill-treated, apart altogether from the unnatural confinement and restrictions they endure, and the group I represent has numerous videos of hare coursing events showing hares being battered, mauled, and tossed about by the muzzled greyhounds.

Film footage of the "Irish Cup" event held in February is a case in point.

The scenes of mind-boggling cruelty captured leave little to the imagination. One’s reaction to such evidence is not characterised by sentimentalism, but by one’s common human decency and a genuine concern for the welfare of animals.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Legal hare coursers are no less culpable


WHILE welcoming this week’s convictions in Co Meath for illegal hare coursing, I am somewhat bemused by the comments that have since appeared on websites and online forums from officials of legal coursing clubs, denouncing those who were caught.
The type of hare coursing permitted by law in Ireland is as cruel as the proscribed variety targeted by the wildlife rangers in Meath. In some respects it is actually worse for the hares.

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Coursing an insult to the name of sport

There can be no excuse or justification for terrorising an animal that poses no threat whatsoever to man, especially given the fact that there is a viable alternative in the sport of drag coursing that has proven so popular in Australia, Britain, Northern Ireland and other jurisdictions where the baiting of live hares has been abolished.

Coursing people claim they hate to see a hare suffer, so why their objection to taking this innocent creature completely out of the equation? Setting two hyped-up greyhounds after a hare in a wired enclosure is anathema to the whole concept of sport, which is about competition and fair play.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

When will we finally see an end to blood sports?

The Department of the Environment has imposed a temporary ban on the shooting of game birds, effective until December 30, owing to severe weather conditions. While this brief respite from man’s inhumanity is welcome, there is to be no let-up in the hounding of foxes and hares.

Foxes will continue to be chased to exhaustion and agonising death over the festive season. And the gentle hares will be snatched from their natural home in our currently frozen or snow-covered countryside and forced to run in terror from pairs of hyped-up greyhounds.

As if the fox or the hare were immune to the ravages of Mother Nature. But of course the powerful, massively financed pro-blood sport lobby still holds our politicians in a vice-like grip.

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Follow Catalonia and ban shameful blood sport

While welcoming the Catalonian ban, however, we in Ireland have no cause to point the finger at Spain for as long as we permit the barbarity of live hare coursing, a practice in which animals are snatched from their natural habitats, held in unnatural captivity, and terrorised for "sport" at public venues.

As with bull fighting, apologists for hare coursing argue that it must be preserved and nurtured because it is part of our "tradition", as if that could justify organised barbarism.

That pathetic excuse didn’t convince a majority of the members of the Catalonian parliament, and neither should it hold sway in the Dáil.

Friday, December 30, 2011

Drag hunting an ideal alternative to bloody pursuit


What I and many other Irish people oppose is hunts hounding a wild dog — the fox — to exhaustion and death for "sport". Or the blooding of novice hounds on fox cubs. Or the use of spades, terriers, and poles wrapped with barbed wire to unearth foxes that have sought refuge underground

One can enjoy almost every aspect of the traditional hunting experience, including the wonderful pomp and ceremony, by chasing an artificial scent or "drag".

The experience is almost identical, but minus the terror and distress inflicted on a hunted animal.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Coursing clubs should send dogs after something that doesn’t take fright

THE Irish Coursing Club (ICC) has offered a reward of €20,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever caused a particular hare to be ill-treated in an incident caught on film by two Swedish students who attended the national coursing meeting in Clonmel last February.
While commending any initiative that advances the cause of animal welfare, I cannot help reflecting that such proactive concern and compassion for the plight of Irish hares used in coursing on the part of the pro-bloodsports lobby has not been more evident in the past.

To the best of my knowledge, no coursing club has ever previously offered a reward in relation to any one of the many thousands of hares that have been terrorised, injured or killed at coursing events over the decades.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Greyhound breeders should not be exempt from new laws

he 1958 act is of no use whatsoever to dogs that are neglected or cruelly ill-treated by uncaring greyhound-owners or trainers, of which there are sadly quite a few, as evidenced by the regular dumping of dead, mutilated greyhounds whose racing or coursing days have come to an end.

Injured greyhounds are similarly treated. These meet their demise in a variety of ways if not humanely put down. They are shot, drowned, strangled or beaten to death with spades or shovels.

Saturday, October 03, 2009

Greens have chance to finally ban bloodsports

In one bloodsport, the gentle hare — a creature that threatens nobody and that graces our natural environment — is snatched from our countryside, held in captivity, and then set up as live bait to be terrorised for human amusement.

Many hares are mauled, forcibly struck, or tossed into the air like playthings despite the muzzling of greyhounds and the brittle-boned creatures have to be killed ("dispatched") as a result.

In the other "pastime", a semi-domesticated stag is released from a trailer and chased for miles by mounted riders with hounds until it drops from exhaustion, in many instances bleeding from head to foot from scratches and wounds inflicted by brambles and barbed wire encountered along the route of the hunt, quivering with fear, and foaming at the mouth.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Will tree stump virgin move to save the hare?

Personally, I’m delighted that so many of the people in Rathkeale, Co Limerick, are engaging in this gentle demonstration of faith in the supernatural. It makes a pleasant change from the annual hare coursing savagery for which the town and district including, in the not so distant past, its clergy, is also famous — or infamous, depending on one’s view of blood sports.

Rathkeale hosts this barbaric festival of cruelty to animals masquerading as "sport", a form of entertainment outlawed in Britain, Australia and most other countries that once allowed it.

I attended one of these "sporting" events there one year and had to shield my ears from the child-like screams of the dying hares as the hounds pulled them asunder. I didn’t see anyone counting on rosary beads that day.

Monday, June 04, 2012

Animal Welfare Bill deserves some attention

The problem is that the bill, in its present wording, seems to regard some forms of animal cruelty as heinous crimes and others as activities to be condoned and even encouraged in our society.

It rightly carries over the prohibition on cock fighting and badger baiting from the 1911 act it will replace, but it contains special exemptions for hare coursing and fox hunting, referring to these as field sports with "traditional codes" of practice.

The setting of roosters against each other to fight and inflict pain and injury is a cruel act, as is the use of a pair of dogs to attack a badger. But surely the setting of 20 or more dogs after a fox, to hound it to exhaustion and then tear the skins from its bones, is also a barbaric practice, not to mention the digging out of foxes and cubs that seek refuge underground, and the use of poles wrapped with barbed wire to drag them to the surface.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Cub-hunting and netting of hares far from sports’ ideal

Even as we bask in the glory of Ireland’s sporting triumph, preparations are underway for activities that have never featured in the Olympics and that constitute an insult to the name of sport.
I refer to cub-hunting and the netting of hares for another coursing season. Though neither coursing nor fox hunting commences until October, the ordeal for the animals affected has already begun.

Cub-hunting, or "cubbing" as fans call it, is a practice whereby novice hounds are introduced to hunting. Coverts known to contain litters of fox cubs are surrounded by hunters, and all escape routes closed off. The dogs are then sent in to attack the cubs. The animals have no chance and are ripped asunder amid a frenzy of blood-crazed mayhem. Any cub that seeks refuge by escaping from the circle of death is beaten back with whips or well-aimed kicks from the hunters. The aim of cubbing is to give the dogs a taste for blood.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Hares are not as lucky as Freeway and Barney

Minister Jimmy Deenihan is considering whether to grant a license to the country’s coursing clubs to net the hares. If they get the green light, they will, as in previous years, snatch the hares from their little homes in the countryside, hold them in captivity, and then force them to flee in terror from pairs of hyped-up greyhounds.

Many of these gentle, inoffensive creatures will be injured and many more will have the living daylights frightened out of them. All for a gamble and a laugh.

Sparks

Anonymous reports posted by the ALF:

October 19, 2008

Fox Hunter's Vehicles Damaged

Fox killers in County Waterford had their vehicles damaged as they dug out foxes with terriers and lurchers. The message was clear, leave our wildlife alone, the ALF is watching you.

July 16, 2009

ANGLERS LOCKED OUT OF THEIR VEHICLES

Two anglers vehicles in the south east of Ireland had their locks glued tight as they were hauling bodies from the water.
Fish feel pain too.

August 10, 2009

HUNTING/FISHING SHOP PAINTED AND GLUED

On monday morning a hunting and fishing shop in lucan was spray painted and had its locks glued shut. The message read 'A.L.F.: STOP SELLING DEATH' and the ALF symbol was done too! For The Animals!

October 18, 2009

HUNT CLUB ADVERTISEMENTS PAINTBOMBED



The Waterford Foxhounds are holding a charity fun in Portlaw, Co. Waterford on the 25th of October 2009.

Road signs advertising this event have been placed on the N25 leading into Waterford city. For the past week the main sign in the village of Kilmeaden has been paintbombed with the word 'blood' in red paint written across the white board sign advertising the event. On two occasions the sign had to be cleaned. Today the Waterford Hunt banner above the white board sign was paintbombed.

Another roadside sign that was also paintbombed has been removed by the hunt.

February 25, 2010

Northern Ireland BUTCHERS, BOOKMAKERS, HUNTING SHOP THOROUGHLY GLUED

In the early hours of Tuesday, February 23rd, a 'lone wolf' activist of the Animal Liberation Front & several tubes of super glue, visited the following premises in Belfast, Northern Ireland:

2 butchers shops
2 bookmakers shops
1 hunting/fishing tackle shop

The locks of these premises were thoroughly glued...unfortunetly, due to the area these places are located, no 'message' could be left (this time!) due to the necessity of a speedy 'hit' & quick withdrawal.

If these Animal exploiters/abusers/murderers do not take heed & call a cessation to their 'businesses', then these attacks will continue unabated until they do so.

Other 'targets' are being monitored at this present time also for Direct Action..."Deeds not Words"

August 9, 2010

Northern Ireland LOCKS RUINED AT BUTCHERS, BETTING SHOPS, HUNTING SUPPLIERS

On Monday 2nd August 2010, a cell of the Animal Liberation Front (Northern Ireland) paid a visit to six 'legitimate targets' in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
All premises had their shutters & locks thoroughly disabled!
The 'businesses' targetted were:
Butchers shops
Betting Offices
Hunting & fishing tackle suppliers.
These actions will cease when these 'businesses' cease!

September 29, 2010

THOUSANDS OF MINK LIBERATED

Rolf Anderssons mink farm in Ardara, Killybegs, was raided by the ALF.

Huge hole cut through the fencing, making it an easy escape route for the 4000 mink liberated from their cages.

The message to fur scum: close down now or more raids will come.

ALF Ireland

April 18, 2011

HUNTER'S CAR VANDALIZED

RISE* supporter car got locks glued and message left: 'HUNTING = MURDER. WE ARE WATCHING. A.L.F.'

*Rural Ireland Says Enough: A bunch of hunters protesting against different hunting bans

January 3, 2012

VEHICLE SABOTAGED AT HUNT CLUB

On Friday 30th December, the ALF struck the Fingal Harriers in North County Dublin.

An unattended jeep had it's front tyre slashed, and the word 'scum' scratched deep into the paintwork on the bonnet.

These murderers have gotten away with what they've done for far too long - and this was just a token gesture to give them a taste of what's to come.

Until all are free,

ALF

March 24, 2012

HUNT VEHICLES VANDALIZED

A number of hunters vehicles parked at a County Meath fox hunt were damaged by a chemical substance.

These vehicles were left unattended as the hunters were out killing wildlife.

Tears mean nothing...only action works.

Grizzly 45

We have a confused attitude to animal welfare

Saturday, December 08, 2012



http://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/letters/we-have-a-confused-attitude-to-animal-welfare-216344.html

We have a strange and confused attitude to animal welfare in this country.
A man has recently been sentenced to four months detention for throwing a homeless man’s pet rabbit into the Liffey. I have no problem with that. But it comes in the middle of the coursing season, during which thousands of hares are captured in the wild and then forced to run from pairs of hyped-up greyhounds for "sport".

John Fitzgerald
Callan
Co Kilkenny

Grizzly 45

Animal voice ICABS online magazine July 2012 "Campaign Quotes"

"Trouble is in a lot of cases [greyhounds] are not put down humanely, and there the antis do have a winning point. All we have to look at is incidents like those Gob****e down in Co Limerick that was dumping shot greyhounds out in a quarry or the other who was chucking them off the pier into the estuary near Glin [Which just happens to be a coursing meet track]. As well as stupid idiots cutting the ears and ID tattoos off their dogs and dumping them. Idiots like that are just handing the antis loaded guns to shoot the coursing and greyhound industry right between the eyes." from a comment on Boards.ie, 18 July 2012.

THE FULL QUOTE UNREDACTED.

Trouble is in alot of cases they are not put down humanely,and there the antis do have a winning point.All we have to look at is incidents like those fcuking Gob****e down in Co Limerick that was dumpingshot greyhounds out in a quarry or the other CNUT who was chucking them off the pier into the estuary near Glin[Which just happens to be a coursing meet track].
As well as stupid idiots curtting the ears and ID tattoos off their dogs and dumping them.

Idiots like that are just handing the antis loaded guns to shoot the coursing and greyhound industry right between the eyes. Its one of the main reasons Bernie Wright has a registerd Irish charity called Greyhound Rescue,and she specifically rescues and rehomes ex racing greyhounds.
I really wonder why?????

Then we have the stupidity of big PR of shipping greyhounds to race in China!! Enough said on how dogs are treated out there.. As a dog lover and by and large us Westerners are ,it is repugnent that we would consider eating our best friend.As a realist,and being pragmatic about it I could understand why the Chinese would consider a dog as a food source.
However how many people would be able to look at it in those terms???

Ultimately, the greyhound industry is its own biggest enemy here.It seriously needs to do a major house clean up and purge out some of its more nastier habits.Not to mind start some very serious inhouse inspections of its members and their policies of dealing with end of life dogs.Otherwise it wont be a question of IF but WHEN the Irish greyhound industry is disassembled under some sort of EU animal rights directive.

Here endth the rant.

Grizzly 45

Irish examiner letters 24/12 /12

Gun ownership needs to be subjected to far greater restrictions, and not only in the USA. Apart from murderous outrages that grab the media headlines, there is an increasing use of firearms in suicides and domestic rows in our own country, leaving aside the criminal fraternity.

I have no objection to non-live target shooting as takes place at the Olympics and numerous less-publicised competitions, or indeed to the professional use of guns by wildlife rangers who need to cull pest species in the interests of conservation, but I have a major problem with the way gun usage is promoted by certain NGOs and groups that class themselves as "sportspeople".

Joe Burke
Lismore Lawns
Waterford

Grizzly 45

Shoot to kill? Nothing sporting about such rules of engagement

BRIAN O'CONNOR

TIPPING POINT : Perusing the shelves in a newsagent’s recently, it dawned that there were a good half-dozen magazines on offer about shooting. And not clay pigeon stuff either. No, staring out from the massed titles were pictures of Springer Spaniels gazing adoringly at their armed owners, tongues lolling stupidly, or jaws clamped firmly around dead birds. And if it wasn’t dogs, it was guns.

Grizzly 45

Stop live animal exports to Middle East


Tuesday, January 08, 2013
With much fanfare the Gathering has been launched in 2013.
An invite has been issued to all; come to Ireland and see this land in all its glory. However, for Irish cattle an invitation to travel is coming from the Middle East.


John Tierney
Waterford Animal Concern
Larchville
Waterford

Irish Examiner 9/1/2013 letters

Grizzly 45

Sir, – Regarding the letter of Conor Brady (January 4th), genuine sport is where competing players attempt to overcome each other, having started on an equal basis. There are also rules and regulations intended to enhance the initial equality between the parties. Perhaps if the animals and birds who are hunted were armed, you could call hunting and shooting a sport. These hunted creatures have no knowledge of what is occurring, other than an intense instinctive fear. They will not be writing letters to the papers afterwards. – Yours, etc,
EUGENE TANNAM,
Monalea Park,
Firhouse,
Dublin 24.
Irish Times Fri 11/1/13

Grizzly 45

IRISH TIMES Letters 14/1/13

Sir, – Dr Colin Lawton of NUI Galway is quoted as saying that foxes are not seen in a favourable light among the farming community, “due to attacks on livestock, lambs and poultry” (“City Slickers – why foxes are right at home in Irish towns”, Science Today, January 10th). Yet the statistics for predation on lambs, for instance, don’t bear this out, with a pilot study undertaken by the Department of Agriculture veterinary lab showing predation (including all kinds of predators) and misadventure (accidents, drownings, etc) combined, at 5 per cent of all lamb mortalities, while the UK ministry of agriculture found much the same, citing predation at a mere 1 per cent, adding that they did not consider foxes to be a significant factor in lamb mortality.

AIDEEN YOURELL,
Irish Council
Against Blood Sports,
Mullingar, Co Westmeath.

fathersymes

From Newstalk


Numerous pets seriously injured by hunting dogs

Newstalk Saturday 26 January 2013

That's according to The Irish Council Against Blood Sports

A recent series of unprovoked attacks by hunt dogs has left numerous pets around the country seriously injured according to The Irish Council Against Blood Sports.They have again called on the government to ban fox hunts.A new report by the council features a number of cases where domestic cats and dogs were attacked during hunts, with several being left with horrific injuries.

wexfordman

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/nutini-speaks-out-against-blood-sports-after-fans-threaten-boycott-29076082.html

Paolo nutini issues apology and statement against field sports after protests about him attending meath hunt ball!

Sparks

ICABS calls for protest against hare coursing club fundraiser:

Hare coursing club lotto fundraiser in today's Lixnaw Parish newsletter. Please complain to bishop http://www.banbloodsports.com/petition-lixnaw.htm …

Sparks

John Fitzgerald attempts to link fieldsports to a violent attack on a dog with an axe:

It’s difficult to get through the message that type of activity is wrong when wee have people calling thjemselves “sportsmen” terrorising, tormenting, and cruelly killing animals for fun…some bloodsports are banned but others are permitted by law.

edit: reported as defamatory to thejournal.ie, removed.

fathersymes

http://www.banbloodsports.com/ln130221.htm

Gathering removes hunting from events website
21 February 2013

A big thank you to The Gathering for responding positively to an ICABS appeal and removing hunting from its website. One of the deleted listings was for a fair which promotes itself as being "supported by all the main hunting organisations" and includes a digging contest, "rabbits, lurchers and long nets" and hunt horse and hound displays.

Sparks

John Fitzgerald (CACS) in todays Independent

...
Carted stag hunting was banned in 2010. Yet rumours have abounded for months that the activity continues on a small scale in parts of Meath and north Co Dublin.

Anyone with knowledge of illegal stag hunting should contact the gardai or the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The Wildlife Amendment Act 2010 states that "a person who hunts deer with two or more dogs shall be guilty of an offence".

...

Grizzly 45

ICABS website


Ask Dunnes Stores to lift its ban on animal groups
22 February 2013

Dunnes Stores has banned animal groups from fundraising at its stores. Ask management at the supermarket chain to lift the ban and allow struggling animal groups to resume fundraising activities.

Despite complaints and protests, Dunnes Stores has so far refused to reveal what prompted its decision to reject groups who are working hard to try and alleviate the suffering of animals across Ireland. Labour Party Senator, John Kelly, raised the issue in Seanad Eireann on 12th February 2013 and called for answers.

Grizzly 45

From the AFAR website

Bestiality Reports invited and condoned on Irish Escort website.


We in AFAR are trying to get the Escort Ireland website to remove all references to Bestiality.

A section where visitors are invited to "confess" acts of bestiality and apparently are given virtual absolution by Father Casey should be removed, this was reported to us by concerned members of the public.

Grizzly 45

22 February 2013
NPWS trappers to kill foxes, crows and shoot mink through their brains

The National Parks and Wildlife Service has announced that a six month mink killing operation will begin next week. The body is spending funds on employing trappers despite an earlier admission that "escapes from mink fur farms would invalidate any attempts to eradicate feral populations". Foxes and crows are also to be targetted up to the end of July and throughout September.

A report in the Irish Examiner (February 22nd, 2013) outlines that "the mink will be captured in live traps set close to the nesting sites of protected birds" and that trappers have been instructed to kill the mink "humanely".

Sparks

From John Fitzgerald on twitter:

New Evidence of hare coursing cruelty in Ireland...The "Irish Cup": http://www.youtube.com/watch?Zcx9n7SEpTI# …!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el8RIHTQA_U …!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el8RIHTQA_U

Copied on to other groups:
https://twitter.com/AnimalAbusers
https://twitter.com/A_W_Global_HQ
https://twitter.com/P4AIreland
https://twitter.com/StopFurTrade
https://twitter.com/StopAnimalPain

And to the Minister for Agriculture, Food & Marine
https://twitter.com/simoncoveney

Sparks

From ICABS on twitter:

Feb24 wrote:

Ask Limerick Racecourse to reject hare coursing http://www.banbloodsports.com/ln130219.htm Email: info@limerickraces.ie Tel: 061320000

Feb24 wrote:

Shame on @LimerickRaces for turning a blind eye to the suffering of hares and hosting another coursing meet pic.twitter.com/55JMGNLpuD

fathersymes

The Collected Letters of John Fitzgerald!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/118695741/Animal-Writes

fathersymes

The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has urged Limerick Racecourse to stop hosting an annual hare coursing meeting at its venue.

The JP McManus Irish Cup hare coursing meeting was held at the racecourse last weekend, and the Irish Council Against Blood Sports said the event witnessed "horrific scenes of hares being mauled and battered by muzzled greyhounds".

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/animal-rights-group-urges-racecourse-to-stop-hosting-hare-coursing-586297.html

Sparks

John Fitzgerald on twitter:

Hare Coursing at major Irish racecourse exposed! http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/animal-rights-group-urges-racecourse-to-stop-hosting-hare-coursing-586297.html …

Forwarded by him to:
https://twitter.com/thejournal_ie
https://twitter.com/IrishJournos
https://twitter.com/News__com
https://twitter.com/IrishEcho
https://twitter.com/Irishwildlife
https://twitter.com/DrBrianMay
https://twitter.com/IrishNewsTweets
https://twitter.com/spin1038
https://twitter.com/randomirishnews
https://twitter.com/politico_ie
https://twitter.com/DyaneconnorTV3
https://twitter.com/vincentbrowne
https://twitter.com/sinnfeinwomen
https://twitter.com/careforthewild
https://twitter.com/FarmersWeekly
https://twitter.com/MorningEdition
https://twitter.com/irishfemnetwork
https://twitter.com/SocialistParty
https://twitter.com/JoeHigginsTD
https://twitter.com/CRKC1
https://twitter.com/GoVeganRadio
https://twitter.com/VeganPatriot
https://twitter.com/3_News
https://twitter.com/rtenews
https://twitter.com/TheCorkNews
https://twitter.com/ShannonsideFM
https://twitter.com/JoeFinneganShow
https://twitter.com/indymediaUK
https://twitter.com/Newstalkfm
https://twitter.com/jonathanhealy
https://twitter.com/LimkNewsWire
https://twitter.com/limerickpost

fathersymes

Animal rights group urges racecourse to stop hosting hare coursing

The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has urged Limerick Racecourse to stop hosting an annual hare coursing meeting at its venue.

The JP McManus Irish Cup hare coursing meeting was held at the racecourse last weekend, and the Irish Council Against Blood Sports said the event witnessed "horrific scenes of hares being mauled and battered by muzzled greyhounds".

http://www.carlow-nationalist.ie/2013/02/27/animal-rights-group-urges-racecourse-to-stop-hosting-hare-coursing/

Sparks

By ICABS on twitter:

When hunts attack pets http://www.scribd.com/doc/121981437/When-hunts-attack-pets …

http://www.scribd.com/doc/121981437/When-hunts-attack-pets

An Irish Council Against Blood Sports report into attacks on pets by hunting dogs. Also included in the report is a section focusing on the threat posed to public safety by hunting hounds.

Sparks

From the ICABS website:

Petition: Ask Limerick Racecourse to stop hosting coursing
Please join us in calling on Limerick Racecourse to stop hosting hare coursing. ICABS filmed hares being hit and severely mauled by greyhounds at a coursing meeting at Limerick Racecourse this month. Please sign the petition now

Scenes of appalling cruelty to animals have been filmed by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports at hare coursing venue, Limerick Racecourse. We witnessed hares being battered into the ground by muzzled greyhounds at the JP McManus-sponsored meeting. One hare could be heard crying out in pain before it was carried away and thrown into a box. Join us in asking Limerick Racecourse to stop hosting this disgusting activity which a majority of Irish people want outlawed and which is already illegal in the neighbouring jurisdictions of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

186 signatures so far. Lots of twittering to corral signatories. They're looking for 1000 signatures in total.

Grizzly 45

03 March 2013 Sunday independant

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/a-bad-day-for-democracy-29105483.html


Madam – It is disturbing to learn that a visitor to these shores cannot go for a quiet drink in a hotel without finding himself the subject of an online witch-hunt orchestrated by animal rights radicals.

I am referring to the report in your newspaper (Sunday Independent, February 17, 2013) concerning the Scottish singer, Paolo Nutini, whose attendance at a hunt ball in Co Westmeath provoked yet another outpouring of rage from those who seek to denormalise hunting using a variety of tactics, one of which is to mobilise a social media lynch mob against anybody in the public eye who finds disfavour with them through any association – no matter how tenuous – with hunting.
-

Sparks

Posted on twitter by ICABS:

Hunters unhappy that campaigners are exercising democratic right to speak out against cruel hunting! Comment at http://dld.bz/cmBXy

Sparks

From the Irish Examiner letters page from John Fitzgerald:

There is no excuse for hare coursing
On Feb 23 and 24, members of the Irish Council Against Blood sports attended part of the so-called “Irish Cup”

...

This footage, which can be viewed on the ICABS website banbloodsports.com bears out the content of reports filed for the 2011/12 coursing season by rangers of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) which detail many other such instances of hares being mauled or otherwise horribly injured in this medieval pastime.

Hare coursing, already banned in many jurisdictions, is a relic of a different, less animal welfare-conscious Ireland where such practices were deemed normal and acceptable. Today there is no excuse for such public exhibitions of recreational cruelty to animals.

Sparks

From John Fitzgerald on twitter:

There is no excuse for hare coursing | Irish Examiner: http://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/letters/there-is-no-excuse-for-hare-coursing-224329.html#.UTSLIG7L9n8.twitter … via @irishexaminer

Sparks

From John Fitzgerald on twitter:

"The Gathering" condemns bloodsports! http://www.indymedia.ie/article/103365

Retweeted on request by "Animal Warriors Global", https://twitter.com/FunkyPigeon1 and https://twitter.com/ISF_Activist

Forwarded on twitter to:
https://twitter.com/tv3NewsIreland
https://twitter.com/SMurphyTV3
https://twitter.com/FergalTodayFM
https://twitter.com/TodayFMNews
https://twitter.com/politico_ie
https://twitter.com/PoliticsIE
https://twitter.com/pressassoc
https://twitter.com/MercyForAnimals
https://twitter.com/UnitedLeft
https://twitter.com/EFComrade
https://twitter.com/P4Animals
https://twitter.com/NinaAwad
https://twitter.com/Savetheanimal14
https://twitter.com/anagirlempath
https://twitter.com/BlueFoxCAFH
https://twitter.com/HoundsOff
https://twitter.com/CarlaYoung
https://twitter.com/Irishwildlife
https://twitter.com/veganmusic
https://twitter.com/OpenPaws

From Indymedia.ie (reprinted in full as the Indymedia reprinting conditions allow this):

Recreational animal cruelty takes direct hit as "The Gathering" rejects bloodsports!

Hare coursing and foxhunt clubs crave good PR. In recent days they've got the opposite: Mega pop star Paoblo Nutini denounced bloodsports after attending a hunt ball in Westmeath without realising its connection to foxhunting...and then members of the Irish Council Against Blood Sports captured horrific footage of hare maulings at the so-called "Irish Cup" coursing festival at Limerick racecourse. Now one of the most important Irish cultural iniatives of recent decades has effectively disowned the cruel baiting of live animals for "sport"...

A fox untroubled by human predators...


In a significant blow to the credibility of bloodsports in Ireland, the "The Gathering" has removeed hunting from its events website

The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has reacted to this heartening development with this statement: " A big thank you to The Gathering for responding positively to an ICABS appeal and removing hunting from its website. One of the deleted listings was for a fair which promotes itself as being "supported by all the main hunting organisations" and includes a digging contest, "rabbits, lurchers and long nets" and hunt horse and hound displays.

A spokesperson for The Gathering told ICABS that "like Failte Ireland, we do not support blood sport and will not advertise any Gathering that promotes it."

ICABS greatly welcomes this positive response. In a year when Ireland is portraying its many positives, it is appropriate to exclude bloodsport-related events. Internationally condemned hunting and hare coursing bring shame on the nation.

We are encouraging all compassionate Irish citizens, at home and abroad, to join the campaign to rid Ireland of animal cruelty and help secure a ban on hunting and coursing".