Animal Cruelty Investigation Group Attends the Waterloo Cup

An ACIG supporter attended this years’ running of the Waterloo Cup as an observer. This is the premier hare coursing event held annually at Altcar near Liverpool. It amounts to the Cup Final of cruelty for hares. It is notable that over half a century ago the Parliamentary Scott Henderson Committee of Inquiry into Hunting (a forerunner of the Lord Burns Inquiry) concluded that the Waterloo Cup came within their description of a cruel event. [“Consequently, the suffering which is caused to hares coursed at such meetings comes within the definition of cruelty which we have adopted.” Report of the Committee on Cruelty to Wild Animals. June 1951 page 75]

Our observer has attended this event for many years, always to observe the event in the undercover role. I salute his courage. He has witnessed the most gruesome cruelty, and moreover people delighting in that cruelty. After attending this years’ event he was understandably shocked. Here is his own eyewitness account written just a few days after the spectacle when the stunning images of suffering were seared into his mind. His choice of language reflects that fact. (I think if any of us were there we too would swear!) Where necessary, to aid the reader, I have added clarification:-

“Here is what I saw on February 25th 2003, the first day of the Waterloo Cup. 15 hares were killed out of 64 coursed. At the end of the day an announcement was made to thank the beaters for a “good day”, being as they got 64 courses in. [This is the target number of courses on the first day of the Waterloo Cup that is a 64-dog stake and has subsidiary events]

The second hare up was caught in the “soughs” (ditch) but no picker up appeared bothered about it, the dogs’ handler got the hare off it and released it. Hares caught and released happened a couple of times during the day. The most blatant act of cruelty/callousness happened when the 19th hare was coursed. The hare escaped the dogs by running up onto the bank, (which happens most years). [The “bank” is a ridge on one side of the Withins coursing ground where the bulk of the supporters stand. Entry here is cheaper than elsewhere]

The hare running through the supporters was almost away when a supporter kicked and stopped it. Grabbing it he tried to throw it back onto the field to the dogs, but it fell short and into the ditch. One dog jumps in and grabs it. The dog is panicking as it’s up to its neck in water. A handler arrives (no pick up guys again). He tries to pull the dog out but can’t. So he gets the hare off the dog and throws it onto the side of the bank (hare still alive but in shock). The dog is pulled out by handler and a supporter. The hare is still alive (still no pick ups). The next thing another supporter jumps over and necks the hare [that is to kill the hare by breaking her neck]. He then throws the dead hare in the ditch. Yet another supporter decides he wants the hare so he’s flat on the ground trying to pull the hare out, all the time cans and bottles are thrown at him. He pulls the hare out and runs into the crowd. A few minutes later I turn around to see these blood and guts all over the grass and fence at the back of me. Turning to the “steward” next to me I said “Is that what’s left of the hare they’ve just killed?” With a look of delight on his face he says “Yes, it took the guy a couple of minutes to skin and gut it.” Next thing is one of the sad bastards decided it would be fun to start throwing the guts at his mates.

Ten minutes after this the supporters yet again show their true faces when a moorhen fell from the sky in front of the bank (I realised later on this was due to a barn owl that was hunting at the back of the bank). As soon as I saw the bird I knew what would happen, that some scumbag would have to kill it. Within seconds of the bird falling into the ditch a lad of about 12/13 jumps up laughing and starts to throw bottles at it, egged on by the other “conservationists” on the bank to “get it!”/”kill it!”. He decides he’s thrown enough bottles at it. He tries to pull it out (he’s now on the field). Knowing I wouldn’t stand a chance if I told him to leave it I turned to the “steward” and asked him to get him off the field. Needless to say he didn’t give a shit. The lad pulls the bird out by its wing and starts to swing it round by its neck, getting what must be the biggest cheer of the day. For 5 minutes or more he swung the bird about (still alive) then handed it to his friend, who necked it. The lad still continued to swing it about for at least another 15 minutes. Both incidents were done in front of the “steward”! A lurcher was thrown onto the field. A message came over the stewards’ radio to stop anybody with a dog from going onto the bank, they had to be told to leave.

There was more poaching in the outer fields this year than I’ve seen in years. Also this year someone wearing a “safety officer” jacket was on the bank, and also a person with a first aid kit on his back. Never seen either before!

Over the years that I’ve been going to the Waterloo Cup I’ve been threatened with knives by some of the scum who know me from sabbing [our investigator has been active protecting wildlife with the Hunt Saboteurs Association]. So I am forever alert.”

Is it not a downright scandal that Parliament has sanctioned this cruelty for so long?

The Scott Henderson Committee of half a century ago that had damned such coursing as cruel had been in no doubt about the reasons for it “The principal object of all coursing is, however, undoubtedly sport and in our view it cannot be regarded as a method of control.” [Report of the Committee on Cruelty to Wild Animals. June 1951 page 72]. And they exposed the measure of the suffering endured by the hares. In the Appendix to their report they gave the kill figures for the 1950 running of the Waterloo Cup that members of the Committee attended. They make grim reading. On the first day 20 hares were killed out of 48 coursed (41%). On the second day a staggering 36 hares were killed out of 44 coursed (82%). And on the third day 7 were killed out of 17 coursed (41%). Whilst recognizing the determined efforts made by compassionate MPs to end this savagery it is a fact that our Parliament as a whole (and much of our media) read all this, knew the facts and allowed the killing to continue.

For as long as this shameful Waterloo Cup continues our man will be there as one eyewitness on the side of the hare. Other investigators will be there likewise. But surely it cannot continue much longer? When I think of how this cruelty has continued for so long I have just one question for Tony Blair. As the old protest song put it : How many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see?

For more than 50 years MPs of all parties have either combined to do nothing or been thwarted by their unelected peers. When, in the 1970s, there was a majority of elected MPs determined to end the cruelty the House of Lords came up trumps for those addicted to cruelty. Youths who attended the Waterloo Cup all those years ago in 1950, particularly those who saw 36 hares killed out of 44 coursed, may well have feared that Parliament would act to deny them their cruelty. They need not have worried. They have now retired. With old age and the attendant inevitable ill-health quite possibly their only hope of seeing such coursing in the future will be if it is televised. With looming battles with the House of Lords, the media and the Royal establishment who all seem determined to support the so-called right to be cruel perhaps full media exposure is the last hope for the hares at Altcar. If the likes of Sky Sports were to show the coursing, and inevitable kills, from every angle, with slow motion replays, the public outrage would (should!!) be awesome. It might at last be enough to force our democracy to work. To compel Parliament to complete the task and finally enact what should have happened before even our present Queen ascended to the throne! As ever the ACIG will be doing its best, at every level, to make this happen.

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