CRUEL , SICK & WORTH MILLIONS
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damage can be caused to property and crops.” As well as digging trenches, some farmers take turns to patrol each other’s land or pay for private patrols.
One worker – who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals – said he had been run off the road and shot at after challenging coursers.
Sharing a picture of his shattered Land Rover window, he said: “It’s brutal and outlawed for a reason. But they don’t care at all.
“People who live in remote areas are terrified of these gangs. It’s been rife for years but it is getting worse.”
Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside
Alliance, said: “Some of these criminals get a fine for hare coursing and see it as a badge of honour. We need to get the point across this isn’t just wildlife crime, it’s the fear these people bring to rural, isolated areas.”
Environmental coalition Wildlife and
Countryside Link estimated only 50 prosecutions are made each year. Chief executive Dr Richard Benwell said the 10,000 hare coursing reports recorded in 2020 were “a severe underestimate”.
He warned: “This issue is rife and is contributing to a huge decline in this beautiful animal.”
Under the Game Act 1831, the
highest fine magistrates can impose is £1,000. Yet criminals routinely walk free with fines of less than £400.
Two men convicted of coursing in Lincolnshire are behind bars for roles in multi-million pound drugs plots.
John Devine, 34, was locked up for a decade in 2019 after his hare coursing pursuits alerted detectives.
In 2018 convicted courser Thomas Jaffray, 37, was jailed for 13 years for his part in a £100million drug ring.
While the sick pastime is largely centred on the east of England, it has pushed into Yorkshire, Humberside, the East Midlands, the Cotswolds and the South East.
The 1,000 reports came in Lincolnshire, where flat farmland is
ideal. In Suffolk, 140 incidents were logged in seven months. In North Yorks, coursing and poaching cases rose from 599 in 2019 to 904 in 2020.
And even in lockdown, Humberside Police slapped fines on men who had travelled 200 miles to take part.
But there is hope. Operation Galileo has pooled intelligence from 20 forces and some use drones to spot gangs.
The Government said it was determined to make rural areas safer. A spokesman said: “Crimes such as hare coursing are completely unacceptable. Those found guilty should be subject to the full force of the law, with unlimited fines already in place for anyone breaching the Hunting Act.”
There is big money involved and courts need powers to dish out tougher sentences CHIEF INSP PHIL VICKERS CALLING FOR GREATER PENALTIES