Hare Coursing: Encroaching on the English Countryside
Farmers are given free soil in order to barricade their countryside against hare-coursers.
The “sport” of hare chasing has been on the rise and is practically impossible to stop. Even though it takes a lot of resources to police, there are few deterrents or punishments for offenders who are caught. While it’s banned in the United Kingdom, the sport is popular in the western USA and the Republic of Ireland.
Hare coursing can’t be further from sport. “It is nothing less than cruelly using live hares as bait to train dogs and then kill them to make money”.
Gordon Henderson, Conservative Member of Parliament, House of Commons in December 2020
Reports of illegal coursing are on the rise. Between September 2019 and March2020, 1,048 reports of illegal coursing were made in the English county Lincolnshire. This is up from the 873 reported the previous year.
The peak period for hare-coursing is between September and March, when crops are being harvested in the fields. Hares can be easily seen. Groups of mostly young men driving lurcher dogs into open fields are common. The police rural crime unit is then prepared to receive a flood of reports about illegal hare-coursing.
Hare coursing attacks on farmers
Farmers who intervene are threatened with violence and their land is damaged. The police have even started using drones in order to catch the offenders. Farmers are now being asked to barricade the fields to deter them. Farmers fear that someone could be seriously injured soon and the Hunting Act of 2004 should be tightened with increased penalties.
Hare coursing is a dangerous activity that can disturb the rural area and cause a great deal of distress to the people who live in the surrounding community.
Crown Prosecution Service
Farmers see hare coursers as hardened criminals. They are calling for tailored sentencing guidelines that include mandatory seizure and payment of dogs, as well as compensation to landowners in the event of damage. The police and courts should also have more power, including the ability to impose much higher fines for poaching offenses. Old laws from 1828 and 1831 still used in prosecutions. The Government has been asked to update and review these laws, removing the limit on fines.
Police report that criminals will ” do everything they can to escape“, including firing catapults on officers and farmers. The criminals use intimidation, threats and violence to stop the public from reporting their crimes. The police advise anyone who sees hare-coursing to be very careful and hide themselves while calling for help.
Barricades to prevent hare-corsing: Incentive for building them
Farmers in Suffolk, England, where there are many hares, can get free soil under an incentive program run by the Country Land and Business Association. They must build earth bunds or large earth barriers along their field boundaries and their entrances to their fields. Farmers are asked to block the entrances of their fields with tree trunks, other obstacles and deep ditches.
The police are in a difficult situation. They find it hard to control large areas of open, dark countryside. They would benefit from updating and strengthening laws that are currently not suitable for their purpose. It’s a sad situation when we can’t protect and prevent harm to one of England’s iconic animals, which are already under pressure due to their unwarranted status as pests.