Aggressive hare poachers ‘casing’ land for plunder

GARDAÍ are investigating links between hare poaching and broader rural crime, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned.

In recent times, gardaí have identified the main poachers operating in each of the 26 counties.

Sources have told the Irish Mail on Sunday that the main players are all involved in other forms of criminality.

They also say the illegal activity is extremely profitable for criminals, with top lurcher dogs being bred and sold for big profits.

Detectives believe poachers also use the time spent on private land to identify land and buildings to steal from at a later date.

In one recent case, a farmer had his jaw broken with one punch when he approached poachers on his land.

In another incident, poachers were observed on land from which hundreds of euro worth of plant and machinery was robbed soon afterwards.

‘This is organised crime,’ said a source. ‘It is a big thing in Kildare and Meath, because of the flat plains of the Curragh and the lovely land in the area, but it is happening in every county.

‘It feeds into the whole area of organised rural crime. Hare poaching is something that is really underground and we weren’t aware of it for a long time.

‘But the gardaí are on to them now and there is very good cooperation between the gardaí and the National Parks and Wildlife Service.’

The MoS has learned that gardaí have made a significant number of hare poaching detections in recent weeks but that it can be a hard crime to prosecute.

‘They usually do it during the daytime using a lurcher dog, which is a sight hound,’ said a source.

‘These guys think they have a God-given right to go out and hunt hare. They think it is part of their heritage. Normally they are dropped off, they could have seven, eight, nine dogs and they go across the land and they release them.

‘Sometimes they run their own competition and they’ll run the dogs against each other. There’s an international dimension to it, because they come over from Wales, Scotland, England and they run their own lurcher/hare competitions. It is totally illegal and under the radar.

‘There is a lot of money in it too, because they breed the good dogs and get 600 or 700 quid.’

Another source said there is a broader criminal element involved: ‘There is a whole underbelly there of criminality associated with it all. Gardaí have a list of poachers operating in every county in Ireland. For these guys it is a profitable sport, but it is totally illegal.

‘They are involved in other forms of criminality, such as robberies and drugs.’

A source said the gangs involved are volatile and aggressive.

‘There is a farmer, who won’t go on the record and won’t make a complaint, who approached these criminals on his land and they broke his jaw with a box. That’s what you’re facing.

‘They are out for the fun of it, but they are also out for intelligencegathering exercises. They scope out the area and come back under the cover of darkness and rob the land of farm plant and machinery. It is all connected.’

Last year, the MoS revealed that a valuable horse belonging to the family of Sheikh Mohammad, the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, was left severely injured after being startled by a gang of hare poachers.

‘They broke a farmer’s jaw with a box’