On Sunday 8th November, several farms in south Wexford came under attack from illegal hunters trespassing on lands with lurchers intent on slaughtering hares.

At least three separate groups of illegal hunters were reported to have been operating in the area during the morning.

In one instance dogs killed a hare in a farmyard near Kilmore Quay and when the trespassers were approached by the farm owner, they threw the dead hare back at him. Unsuccessful attempts were made to contact local wildlife rangers to report the activity.

One witness was so frustrated he later emailed Minister O’Brien outlining the events and added,

‘I also rang the two NPWS officers for the area Mr. (name redacted) and Mr. (name redacted). Neither of them answered the phone or returned my call.’

It has been confirmed that, when contact could not be made with Wildlife Rangers, the three trespass/illegal huntings were reported to Wexford Gardai. It is understood that Garda intervention resulted in one group abandoning their vehicle and fleeing on foot.

It is probably no coincidence that when hundreds of hares, netted under licence by Coursing Clubs throughout the country, were released back into the wild on the instructions of Mr John Fitzgerald principle officer of the N.P.W. that these ‘lurcher’ men were out in force. Due to level 5 COVID-19 restrictions Coursing was suspended and hares were released back to the wild.

One role of National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) is to secure the conservation of a representative range of ecosystems to maintain and enhance populations of flora and fauna in Ireland. (npws.ie) A Wildlife Ranger’s responsibility under the Wildlife Acts relates to wildlife conservation and for ensuring the conservation of certain wildlife species, including hares.

The N.P.W.S. publish details on its website, npws.ie, of the locations where every coursing club both net and subsequently release hares. This information is available to the general public at the click of a button. In some instances, it is not just the townland that is named but the individual farm is identified.

When the NPWS website was checked this afternoon, Wexford Coursing Club’s net and release locations, for three of the last four seasons, where available to view. Again, it is no coincidence that the three locations targeted by these illegal hunters on Sunday are locations listed on the NPWS website as release areas.

It beggars belief that an organisation charged with the conservation of the Irish Hare would publicise the location of their release for these ‘lurcher’ gangs to view and at the same time fail to have adequate staff available to protect the hare from these killers on the day of their release.

Mr. John Fitzgerald, Principle Officer of NPWS should direct that all information relating to the release of hares be redacted from the npws website otherwise he and the NPWS continue to be complicit in the slaughter of the Irish Hare. Wildlife crime and habitat destruction:

If you need information on wildlife legislation and licensing, need to report a wildlife crime or habitat destruction (out-of-season burning/hedgerow clearing, etc.) please contact the National Parks and Wildlife Service by email on nature.conservation@ahg.gov.ie, by telephone on LoCall 1890 202 021.