Environment Minister urged to suspend stag-hunt licence immediately

meath | animal rights | press release Tuesday December 15, 2009 00:17 by Bernie Wright - Association of Hunt Saboteurs AOHS berniew at esatclear dot ie PO box 4734. Dublin.1 0872651720

Ward Union Deer killed by car during Meath hunt..

The Minister for the Environment Mr. John Gormley was today urged to immediately suspend the licence he granted earlier in the autumn to the Ward Union Stag Hunt following a serious incident last Friday when a deer being hunted by the Ward Union was chased onto the main road between Ashbourne and Slane. The deer, which was hit by an on-coming Mercedes, was seriously injured and had to be put down at the scene. It had been seen exiting Seamus Dardis’s farm having begun its chase from Huntsman Pat Coyles premises.

Watching you like a hawk

The occupants of the car weren’t injured, but callers to Liveline who were travelling behind the car today expressed their horror at what they witnessed last Friday.

“We cannot wait for the ban on stag hunting promised in the Programme for Government,” said spokesperson for the AOHS Bernie Wright.
“In the interests of Animal protection and also public liability safety, we urge Minister John Gormley to immediately suspend the licence he gave these people to hunt deer for this -their last season. It is clear from this latest incident that they either cannot or will not enforce the conditions attached to the licence granted.”

A number of submissions containing analyses of the OPW Monitoring Reports of the 2008/09 season were made to Minister Gormley during the summer, all of them highlighting numerous breaches of conditions contained in the licence granted last year.
We ourselves in the AOHS analysed 22 breaches in total in the reports.
Breaches of Condition 21 which deals with access to public roads were numerous with the hunted deer crossing busy roads and a motorway on a number of occasions.

“This alone should have meant that Minister Gormley withheld this year’s licence,” said spokesperson Bernie Wright’-While we welcome the proposed ban, we are seriously concerned that it will not come in time to prevent more serious incidents such as that which occurred last Friday, and which could have ended in disaster for the motorists concerned, as it did for the unfortunate animal.”- remember this so called sport is just to amuse the arrogant Ward Union , it serves no other purpose yet its risking lives every time the hunt goes out!

“The fun-loving animal abusing hunting enthusiasts gathering in Trim tonight to prepare to oppose the proposed ban, should instead try and come up with a more humane way to spend their Tuesday and Friday afternoons - one that doesn’t place the safety of members of the public in such serious peril on an on-going basis for seven months of the year,”