(Graham Stuart MP and Minister Victoria Atkins MP)
On Tuesday 16 October Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart hosted an event in Parliament to highlight illegal hare coursing and its effects on rural communities in East Yorkshire and across the whole of the UK.
The event in Portcullis House was well attended by MPs of all parties and all parts of the UK, along with campaigners from the CLA (Country Land and Business Association) and Humberside Police.
Victoria Atkins MP, Wildlife Crime Minister, attended and listened to the concerns of all attendees. The event took place in a Select Committee room and the Beverley & Holderness MP was able to arrange everyone sitting down in the committee-type setting, allowing attendees to present their views to the Minister. Among other representations, Victoria Atkins heard from a farmer who had been attacked with an iron bar across his face, and from a gamekeeper who said the coursers are increasingly using high-tech equipment and becoming more aggressive when confronted. Another farmer said the hare coursers targeted his land that morning and had caused £5,000 of damage to his seed trails.
Graham Stuart MP commented: “I am pleased the event was a great success. I was encouraged by the large number of Members of Parliament who attended to show their support for ending the crime of hare coursing, which affects many of our rural communities, including the vast open stubble land in the Holderness area of my constituency.
“It was invaluable to talk in-depth with the Minister about hare coursing and its wider effects with the high-level attendees from the CLA and other guests such as gamekeepers, Brandon Ward, Wildlife, Rural & Heritage Crime Officer of Humberside Police, Holderness Farm Watch Co-Ordinator Hollie Harris and Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire, Jason Ablewhite.
“The Minister made it clear she is concerned about the effects this crime is having on rural communities and that she is prepared to listen to proposed steps that could be taken to reduce and, ultimately, eliminate hare coursing. During the event the Minister confirmed her intention to meet with me and a delegation of countryside campaigners so we can discuss how we work together to eliminate this crime.
“As well as working with the Minister, I want to reiterate how everyone in rural communities can help the police catch hare coursers. This can be done by reporting anything suspicious you see to the non-emergency police number 101: it could be a group of people in a field with dogs during the night or day time that you don’t recognise, or suspicious looking vehicles with dogs and strangers in them parked up in a lay-by. If it’s safe to do so and you can take photos of the people, or the vehicle registrations, even better. It is only by raising awareness of the crime and the part we can all play that we can bring it to an end. Hare coursers should be on notice – from the top of Government to residents in rural communities, we are working together to stamp out this practice.
Holderness Farm Watch Co-Ordinator, Hollie Harris, who travelled to London for the meeting said: “I was delighted that the Wildlife Crime Minister, Victoria Atkins MP, was present throughout the hare coursing event in Parliament. It was great to see her listening to the personal experiences of farmers and gamekeepers who have to put up with the intimidation and threats, not to say the criminal damage to their land, by lawbreakers taking part in illegal hare coursing. I want to thank our MP, Graham Stuart, for putting on this worthwhile event and bringing home to the Minister just what it’s like to live in a rural community like Holderness which is blighted by hare coursing.”
