GOAL, an international humanitarian agency dedicated to alleviating the suffering of the poorest of the poor, recently lost a large donation that was meant to assist victims of the Haiti earthquake because an animal rights organization argued against the source of the donation.

The Irish Coursing Club, a century old greyhound sporting club, and Bookmaker Boylesports raised money at its events this past month towards the relief efforts being made in Haiti. The victims of the earthquake, however must have seemed insignificant to the self-righteous animal rights activists. Members of the misleadingly titled animal rights group, the Irish Council Against Bloodsports protested against the source of the donation, and ultimately prevented it from ever reaching Haiti.

Group picture of the Fethard Coursing Club

Coursing, is a traditional and ancient sport in Ireland which consists of tracking wild hare using greyhounds, where the skill of the dogs are compared for competition. The Irish Coursing Club, not unlike the North American conservation group Ducks Unlimited, is responsible for bringing many reforms to the sport in terms of animal welfare, and has helped changed it into the harmless, humane and death-free sport that it is today. The club enforces rules such as a limited season to ensure that the hare is undisturbed during the breeding season, releasing all hares back unharmed, and the muzzling of all competing greyhounds. The club also takes steps to ensure that the hare population is protected from predators and from poachers, and the end result of the conservation and preservation policies of the Irish is the increase of the wild hare population.

The Irish Council Against Blood Sports contacted the charity, Goal, to “alert them” to the source of the donation. They described the coursing event that was held as a fundraiser as a “cruelty fest” and said blood sports-related fundraisers were “thinly-disguised public relations exercises designed to try and gain brownie points for those involved in causing suffering and death to animals”.

An official at Goal subsequently contact Boylesports to say the charity did not wish to be associated with coursing and was told: “no problem”.

Despite turning down the donation, when contacted by The Irish Times, the charity’s head of fundraising said that the charity would, in fact, be happy to accept the donation because she didn’t see “why people in Haiti should suffer” just because some people objected to certain activities. She said the Irish Council Against Blood Sports had promised “more calls” and she was “picturing a deluge of phone calls from irate members of the public”.

T chief executive of the Irish Coursing Club, expressed disappointment and said Goal was dealing with “a desperate situation in Haiti”. He called on the Irish Council Against Blood Sports to replace the donation lost to Goal.

After the decline in donation, Boylesports redirected its charitable donation to another charity, an animal welfare organization, Retired Greyhound Trust, which provides for unwanted dogs.

Despite its suggestive name which makes you think of brutal person versus person fighting equivalent to gladiator matches, The Irish Council of Bloodsports is an animal rights organization whose soul purpose is to campaign against hunting and the sport of coursing in Ireland.

Links:
The Irish Times – http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0205/1224263813877.html
Irish Coursing Club – http://www.irishcoursingclub.ie/
Irish Council Against Bloodsports – http://www.banbloodsports.com/