Keeping out the coursers

We are being plagued by hare coursers. What can we do to stop them? We have tried all the usual practices, such as locking gates, but it doesn’t seem to have made much difference.

Stopping them altogether is next to impossible, but there are things you can do to make yourself a hard target and improve the chances of their getting caught. Firstly, I would contact your local wildlife liaison officer. All UK police forces now have them, and they will be involved in national initiatives such as Operation Galileo, and they or a representative of their force will be members of the national poaching priority delivery group.

Log each incident and ask everyone local to your farm to note down the registration numbers of suspicious vehicles and details of the occupants. The police will act on information received and can’t be blamed for not doing anything if they have nothing to go on. The reduction in incidents will be gradual, and convictions few, but you will get there eventually. Keep at them. LB