{"id":20347,"date":"2022-09-13T18:16:33","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T16:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=66852"},"modified":"2022-09-13T18:31:18","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T16:31:18","slug":"mark-carwardine-hare-coursing-is-a-serious-problem-in-many-rural-areas","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/mark-carwardine-hare-coursing-is-a-serious-problem-in-many-rural-areas\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Carwardine: hare coursing is a serious problem in many rural areas"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Mark Carwardine\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 13 September 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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After years of campaigning by conservation groups and the National Farmers\u2019 Union, it was heartening to hear that tough new measures to tackle the illegal practice of hare coursing have at last been brought into force by the UK government<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What is hare coursing?<\/h2>\n

Hare coursing is barbaric. Typically, two greyhounds (or other fleet-footed dogs that hunt by sight rather than smell) are set onto a brown hare. The coursers bet on how closely each dog can follow the twists and turns of the hare as it tries to escape, and whether they will ultimately catch and kill it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hare coursing is closely connected to organised criminals responsible for a range of serious unlawful activities <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>

It is\u00a0a serious problem in many rural areas. Not only does it involve cruelty to the hares (and, often, the dogs), it is closely connected to organised criminals responsible for a range of other unlawful activities, including theft, criminal damage, violence and intimidation, according to a report from Wildlife and Countryside Link<\/a>. It also involves enormous sums of money (up to \u00a310,000 per person, per month) changing hands through high-stakes illegal betting.<\/p>\n

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\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
An early 19th century man out hare coursing with his hounds in the English countryside. \u00a9 whitemay\/Getty<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

What are the penalties for those caught hare coursing?<\/h2>\n

Now, though, anyone caught hare coursing will face an unlimited fine and up to six months in prison; and there are new powers for the courts to disqualify convicted offenders from owning or keeping dogs.<\/p>\n

This is good news. But it doesn\u2019t mean the end of hare coursing. Far from it.<\/p>\n

The police are already stretched to the limit dealing with \u2018real\u2019 crimes (as my local MP once put it). There is a National Wildlife Crime Unit<\/a>, but it only has about a dozen overworked staff and has been significantly underfunded for years. Worse still, funding is year to year \u2013 which makes it impossible to plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

6.3 million crimes were recorded in the year to March 2022 \u2013 but just 5.6 per cent of them led to a suspect being charged or summonsed <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>

Meanwhile, recorded wildlife crimes in England and Wales have just hit a 20-year high. Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that 6.3 million crimes were recorded in the year to March 2022 \u2013 and only 5.6 per cent of them led to a suspect being charged or summonsed (a new low, down from 16 per cent in 2014\u201315).<\/p>\n

Is wildlife crime increasing?<\/h2>\n

Crimes against wildlife are widespread, numerous, varied \u2013 and reports of them are increasing. It\u2019s not just hare coursing. There is deer poaching, fox hunting (which can occur under the smokescreen of trail hunting), persecution of badgers, bats and birds of prey, egg theft, and so on. Animals are being killed illegally every day \u2013 sometimes for sport, sometimes for profit, and sometimes out of sheer callousness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are no official figures, so it\u2019s virtually impossible to gauge exactly the scale of the problem. Police are not required to record wildlife crimes \u2013 most are listed as \u2018miscellaneous\u2019 \u2013 and without proper statistics it is impossible to target sufficient resources effectively. It\u2019s a long-standing issue that needs to be solved as a matter of urgency. Indeed, a shortlist of wildlife offences is currently being considered by the Home Office for notifiable status.<\/p>\n

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