Here is the problem for hare coursing enthusiasts. Small human fans of the Nutbrown Hares (see Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney, illustrated by Anita Jeram) will ascribe human attributes to the adorable hares, and the book’s tens of millions of grown-up buyers will stand accused of endorsing such anthropomorphic notions.

Then again, a bedtime story about a shy little Irish hare that is netted in the wild, transported and held captive for weeks before being dropped into an enclosure as live bait for a pair of muscular, muzzled 35kg coursing greyhounds is unlikely to be toddler catnip. Coursing fans might ask themselves why, as a third effort to ban the pursuit comes before the Dáil. TD Paul Murphy’s Animal Health and Welfare (Ban on Hare Coursing) Bill will be debated tomorrow and voted on next Wednesday.

The ethical case against using wild or domestic animals for entertainment seemed unanswerable as far back as 1835, when Britain and Ireland outlawed cockfighting along with bear- and bull-baiting. In modern Ireland, section 15 of the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 prohibits the use of animals for fighting, training or baiting purposes. It also makes it illegal to publicise or promote such events, provide information about them or receive money for admission to them.

To many people those descriptions may sound uncannily like hare coursing events.

We’re ready to do a deal on public servants’........

© The Irish Times