Hare coursing much better for hares than conservation!

February 2010 Irish hares are, apparently, eighteen times more abundant in areas managed by the Irish Coursing Club (ICC) than at similar sites in the wider countryside according to a recent study by Queen's University Belfast.

Hare preserves
There are approximately 76 local coursing clubs distributed throughout Ireland and each is associated with a number of discrete localities, known colloquially as ‘hare preserves'. These are managed favourably for hares, including predator control, prohibition of other forms of hunting such as shooting and poaching and the maintenance and enhancement of suitable hare habitat.

Anti-field sports organisations, in addition to animal welfare objections, dispute the efficacy of ICC hare population management practices claiming that annual harvesting of hares causes local population declines and expiration.

Hare population density
The research team, lead by Dr. Neil Reid, Quercus Centre Manager at Queen's, indirectly tested the efficacy of management practices by comparing hare numbers within preserves to that in the wider countryside.

Courtesy of Belfast University.

Dr Reid said: "While we cannot rule out the role of habitat, our results suggest that hare numbers are maintained at high levels in ICC preserves either because clubs select areas of high hare density and subsequently have a negligible effect on numbers, or that active population management positively increases hare abundance."

Hunting and shooting are good for wildlife?
The research, published in the peer-reviewed international journal Acta Theriologica, suggests that field sports such as shooting, hunting and hare coursing promote the multifunctional use of farmland in which wildlife provides a resource for non-agricultural activities supporting sustainable development. Also, field sports may offer financial and recreational incentives to farmers and private landowners who are frequently willing to accept conservation costs over a wider area than Government can afford to subsidize.

Co-author Professor Ian Montgomery, Head of the School of Biological Sciences at Queen's said "The Irish hare is one of the highest priority species in Ireland and its conservation is a fine balance between the management of suitable habitat within agricultural systems, population management by coursing clubs and associated animal welfare concerns. Without legal, well organised and regulated coursing much of the costs of conservation will fall exclusively on Government."

Only 4% of hares killed at coursing events
This latest research follows on from a previous study published by the same group in the journal Animal Welfare during 2007, which showed that survival of hares at coursing events significantly improved with the introduction of compulsory muzzling of greyhounds in 1993, while improved levels of captive animal husbandry reduced mortality yet further. It is estimated that about four per cent of the 6,000 or so hares netted by the ICC each year are killed with the rest being released back into the wild.

Conservation schemes are useless
The value of government run agri-environment schemes (AESs) has been called into question by the Queen's University Belfast academics.

The Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) scheme was designed to help conserve biodiversity by paying farmers to adopt sympathetic land management practices. In Northern Ireland such schemes cost the tax payer £10 million a year and up to £350 million annually throughout the UK. Conservation plans for vulnerable species, such as the Irish hare, rely on the schemes to deliver increase in populations by improving habitat quality.

Rabbits & foxes - pests?
Dr Neil Reid said: "The scheme did not work because it does not provide the specific mix of food and cover that hares need. What's worse is that the abundance of common agricultural pests such as rabbits and foxes is two-three times higher within ESAs than in the wider countryside. Aside from damage to farm businesses, the proliferation of rabbits might cause overgrazing of important plant communities, while more foxes can adversely affect ground-nesting birds and other species of conservation concern."

"Our research shows that hares need a mixture of food and cover. Helping farmers to adopt these measures, together with sensitive grassland management, could help ensure buoyant populations of hares for the future."

Further information on the study is available on the Quercus website at www.quercus.ac.uk .