Product Description
In Ireland the 'humble hare' has been the subject of great controversy. After years of an abusive sport, which resulted in its child-like death screams being heard regularly throughout Ireland, a result was achieved. For those few dedicated people trying desperately to save the gentle creature from the horrors of the cruel sport of hare coursing, the struggle was painful and fought against great odds. The author writes about one of the 'world's most barbaric blood sports' continuing during a deadly period for the hares, the 1980s. His own peaceful and non-violent action and that of, initially, a few others' did arouse the public and achieve what at first appeared to be a hard-won benefit to the hare. But the hare's troubles were- and are- far from over. Though it can no longer be torn apart by greyhounds, now muzzled, it can still be mauled, injured, and tossed about like a rag doll on the coursing field. In addition to highlighting the hare's sad plight, this is also a campaigner's story. The author recounts vividly the ups and downs of his own fight against cruelty. He paid a major price in suffering as a result of being persecuted for his beliefs. The gentle hare, apart from its use and abuse in coursing, has now become an endangered species in Ireland, and this book reinforces its right to be protected.
About the Author
John Fitzgerald is a free-lance journalist and writer living in Callan, County Kilkenny, Ireland. Before taking up these twin pursuits, he had worked for almost a decade in a farmers' Co-operative, during which time he wrote hundreds of letters to newspapers exposing cruelty to animals in general, but hare coursing in particular, as part of a national campaign against blood sports in Ireland. He has been involved for almost three decades in Ireland's anti-hare coursing movement and the present book focuses on a tumultuous phase in the campaign that had a devastating immediate and long-term impact on his life. John Fitzgerald has contributed articles to a number of national and provincial Irish newspapers and to the popular Ireland's Own magazine. He is also the author of four previous books, all dealing with aspects of his native county's heritage, history, and folklore: Kilkenny-People Places Faces, Kilkenny-A Blast from the Past, Callan in the Rare Old Times, and Callan through the Mists of Time.
by Phil Richardson
