Research Study on the Movement and Survival of Hares after Coursing

Tender description

The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), part of the Department of Culture, Heritage, and the Gaeltacht (DCHG), provides the legislative and policy framework for the conservation of nature and biodiversity in the Republic of Ireland. It also oversees its implementation, based on good science, with particular emphasis on the protection of habitats and species through, among other means, the designation and conservation of sites under EU Directives and national legislation. The Irish hare [Lepus timidus hibernicus] is listed on Annex V of the E.U. Habitats Directive [92/43/EEC] and is also protected under the Wildlife Acts [1976 and 2000]. The species is considered to be in favourable conservation status. The full details of its most recent conservation assessment (2019) can be seen here: https://www.npws.ie/sites/default/files/publications/pdf/NPWS_2019_Vol3_Species_Article17.pdf Hare coursing in Ireland is administered by the Irish Coursing Club (ICC) which is a body set up under the Greyhound Industry Act, 1958. Statutory responsibility for the Act resides with the Minster for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Licences are required by the ICC under the terms of the Wildlife Acts to facilitate the capture of hares (under Section 34) and the tagging of hares (under Section 32) for closed park meetings. Coursing meetings usually take place during the Open Season dates (which for hares is between 26 September and end of February). Hares are netted in advance of coursing meetings and then kept in dedicated hare parks for a period of several weeks. After coursing they are released again in to the wild. The National Parks and Wildlife Service now invites tenders for the provision of research into the movement and survivorship of hares after coursing. See RfT Document for further details.