Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 17 December 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Irish Greyhound Industry: Irish Coursing Club

Mr. D.J. Histon:

Probably the simplest way to describe it is that the dogs of those engaged in illegal hunting do not wear muzzles and, typically, they are not greyhounds. They enter the lands without permission, they do have any insurance and they could allow anywhere between two and five dogs to go after one animal, or they may very well let two hounds off the leash and then after a period release two further dogs to pursue the same hare. The end result is the death of the hare. From that point of view, the muzzle alone is the first thing one would look for. I have never seen an illegal hunting event taking place where the dogs wore muzzles.