The UK is finally clamping down on hare coursing gangs

Once upon a time, hare coursing was a respectable sport, practised by Royals and other members of the gentry. The Forest Laws, imposed after the Norman Conquest, were introduced to ensure that only the nobility could own greyhounds which is why lurchers – crossbreeds between a sighthound and another working dog – became both popular, and known as ‘poachers’ dogs’.

But in 2005 the Hunting Act arrived – changing everything. In 2019, I wrote in these pages about the current illegal hare coursing occurring across the country:

‘It was the Hunting Act that drove coursing underground, and at that point the rules of the game changed. In formal coursing events, a pair of dogs will be slipped (released) simultaneously, and chase after a hare when it runs. Hounds were traditionally awarded points for forcing the hare to turn — which they do far faster and more sharply than a greyhound. But in the gangster version of the sport, typically one dog is released at a time, and the winner is the one who can kill the most hares in a set number of slips.’