Hon. Sec. Miss S Baird

INTRODUCTION

Compared to coursing with greyhounds (covered by the National Coursing Club), whippet coursing is very much a minority sport. There are only three clubs in the UK coursing under the jurisdiction of the National Whippet Coursing Club.

All whippets must be registered with The Kennel Club and must not exceed a height of 20 inches at the shoulder. The rules of the NWCC are based on the NCC rules for greyhounds with adjustments made to cater for the much smaller size of the whippet. The length of the slip (the law, or lead given to the hare) is shortened to a minimum of 35 yards (but is usually greater than this) and fewer points are awarded for the lead to the first turn.

As with greyhound coursing it is not the intention to kill the hare but to score points by pressing the hare to deviate from it's chosen course. Very few hares are killed as they are on their own home ground, know all the escape routes and usually outwit the dogs or use their greater stamina to escape.

All whippet coursing under NWCC rules is strictly amateur with no prize money, betting or commercial sponsorship. Most of the whippets coursing are family pets living in the house and some are show dogs. Some breeders get great satisfaction from breeding show champions capable of "holding their own" in the field.

Most coursing whippets are acquired as puppies and are kept on as pets after retirement.

SURVEY

At short notice a survey was carried out among coursing whippet owners who were asked to supply information concerning the costs involved in keeping and running coursing whippets and to get their views on the effects a ban might have on their canine activities.

A total of 38 replies were received representing about 60% of owners running whippets "under rules".

The average number of whippets kept was 3.6 per member, which consisted of an average of two running dogs, plus one or two retired veterans and perhaps a puppy too young to run.

The average cost of keeping a whippet was about £300 p.a. which includes food, vet. bills, bedding, etc. This totals about £68,000 p.a

About one third of respondents said that they would keep fewer whippets if coursing was banned; but it is unlikely that any would be put down. It is estimated that the total number of whippets kept would only drop by about 30 representing a loss of £9,000.

Another significant cost for most coursing supporters is travelling to meetings. Most travelled between 1,500 and 2,000 miles in a season, with some doing much more than this. Even if the average is taken as the lower figure and assuming a rate of only 40p. per mile, this represents a loss of about £600 per person or £37,800 in total.

Coursing is the competitive running of two sighthounds after a wild hare on its home ground. Points are awarded to each hound depending on how it works the hare It is not the intention to kill the hare. Coursing is therefore different from the other field sports.

The attraction is in seeing hounds do what nature intended them to do. For some there is also the satisfaction of owning or having bred a good hound.

Hares are either walked up, when those present walk across the fields putting up the hares as they go, or are driven slowly by beaters towards where the hounds are waiting to be slipped

The National Whippet Coursing Club (NWCC) is the regulating body for "Official" whippet coursing, acting for whippet coursing in the same way as the National Coursing Club regulates greyhound coursing.

Started running December 1962 Now courses mainly in the Cotswolds but has 2 or 3 meetings most seasons in the Royston area of Hertfordshire.

The club aims to hold 10 meetings a season, 4 walked up and 6 driven, plus 4 informal unjudged trials meetings. It has 30-35 members who course plus about 10 non running members.

Subscriptions - running member £35, joint running £47, non-running £20. Fees to enter a dog to run - walked meeting £7, driven meeting £12. These fees and subscriptions are not enough to cover the cost of the meetings and the Club depends on other fund raising activities to supplement these direct payments.

Split off from the WCC in 1972/3. Courses roughly within a triangle Colchester, Chelmsford, and Cambridge.

Holds about 10 meetings a season, nearly all walked up, plus one or two informal unjudged trials meetings. Has about 25-30 members who course plus a few non-running members.

Subscriptions - running member £25, joint running £40, non-running 120. Entry fees £8. Financially heavily dependent on fund raising activities.

Started coursing in 1972/3. Courses in East Anglia. Holds about 10 meetings a season, nearly all walked up. They hold a similar number of members as the East of England club.

Until recently there was a fourth club which coursed in a limited area to the west of Huntingdon but because of widespread illegal coursing the landowners withdrew their support and the Club ceased to run after 25 years.

Undoubtedly hares are coursed by whippets elsewhere in the UK but not under the jurisdiction of the NWCC.

Because some members belong to more than one Club the overall number of members coursing has been, for some years, 60-65. Most seasons they run a total of about 135 whippets. In 1998/9 of the 63 members 25 ran I dog. 21 ran 2, 12 ran 3, 3 ran 4 and the other 2 ran 12 between them.

Currently nearly three quarters of the coursing members are women. Some members live in or near the areas where their Clubs course but some live at a considerable distance, for example members who run regularly with the Whippet Coursing Club live in Derby, Shropshire, Gwent, Hampshire, Surrey, Kent, Essex amd Herts Most of their meetings take place in West Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

Whippet coursing is run on the same basic principals as greyhound coursing and the rules are very similar. The main differences are:

All whippets coursing under the NWCC rules must be pedigree and registered with the Kennel Club.

All the whippets that course are treated as pets. They must live with their Kennel Club registered owners. Most live indoors. None are professionally trained. How much training their owners do depends on how seriously they take their coursing. Some whippets get nothing more than some daily exercise.

A coursing whippet is able to run at ten or more meetings a season and most continue to course regularly for at least 6 seasons. Some whippets are still coursing against other senior veterans at 10 years old.

Whippets are much smaller than greyhounds and the NWCC Rules have a height limit of 20 inches at the shoulder. There is therefore a much smaller speed differential between the hare amd the coursing hound. A ft whippet has an initial speed advantage over the hare but is unable to maintain this for long. "The length of the slip must necessarily vary with the nature of the ground but where practicable should not be less than 35 yards" (NWCC Rule 16a). If the length of the slip allows the whippets to Bet on terms with the hare they will work it very closely turning with the hare. However if the slip is too long the course will become a long chase to cover with the hare increasing its lead as the course continues. In this case the course is judged on the superior speed of one of the whippets.

There is no prize money in whippet coursing. Finalists usually receive a rosette or a trophy.

Whippet coursing meetings are private and only members and their guests may attend. All meeting are held on private property with the permission and co-operation of the occupiers of the land.

Because whippet coursing clubs draw their members from such a wide area there is no significant benefit to the rural economy in any particular area from cost of feed, etc.

Payments at meetings for local services do have a direct benefit on the local economy. At nearly all meetings there is a representative of the landowner who will be paid about t4O, a horse has to be hired for the judge at about £75/day and driven meetings require beaters, up to 30 at £16/day. Total expenditure at local level (where the coursing takes place) for the 3 clubs for the season is approximately I6000.

Total costs for running the three clubs; which includes stationery, postage, printing, telephone costs, as well as running meetings, charity donations and AGM costs, etc. is in the region of £13,000 p.a.

Alternatives such as whippet racing or lure coursing will not offset the loss of rural expenditure if a ban is introduced because these are summer activities which those members who want to take part in do so already.

7. Agriculture and Pest Control

It is not the intention of coursing, under rules, to kill the hare so it cannot be considered as a means of pest control.

8. Social and Cultural Life of the ConetrYside

Because of the residential spread of the members, coursing meetings provide great occasions for friends to meet and socialise with each other, as well as slipper, judge, gamekeeper, beaters, etc. Frequently farmers and landowners join us for lunch as well as enjoying the sport.

The AGM is also a good social gathering where landowners, keepers, judges and slippers are invited to lunch with the members.

Most years a "fun day" is organised, in the summer, where agility tests, long jumps and a lurcher show attract members of the public as well as the coursing fraternity.

The general hare population has decreased in the South of England in recent years. The reasons are not clear but what studies have been done have ascribed modern agricultural practices as a major factor. Where coursing takes place with the full cooperation of the landowner or tenant these practices will be modified to benefit the hares and they will not be shot unless their numbers become excessive.

There is no record of how many hares are killed in whippet coursing but it may be no more than a total of 20 in a season. Very few of them will be f t strong hares so it can be said that coursing does, in a small way, weed out the bad breeding stock.

A ban on official coursing would result in many more hares being shot. Illegal coursing (running of longdogs on land without permission often by gangs from major conurbation's) has caused some landowners who previously actively supported coursing to shoot the majority of their bares because the police are unable or unwilling to take effective action against the illegal coursers. If coursing were banned there would be no purpose in conserving bares, which do cause damage to crops, and many more would be shot.

Hares live above ground in the open. Their only means of survival is to run. They are accustomed to having to flee and coursing is only one more occasion for this. Most whippets, in spite of their size, are efficient killers and on nearly all occasions when hares are caught they are killed instantaneously. None escape wounded. Shooting cannot guarantee the immediate death of the hares.

The whippet is essentially a hunting sighthound. It is popular in the show-ring and there are many whippet-racing clubs but whippets that are successful in both these activities are frequently different in type from the true coursing whippet. If coursing were banned the breed would change and the conformation would not reflect the whippet's origins.

All respondents to the survey, who had been to dog shows, regarded tbe coursing dogs to be closer to the breed standard than the bred-for-show dogs and thought it important that coursing dogs should compete at championship show level.

11. Implementing a Ban

Coursing is only one small step away from owners taking their dogs for a walk in the countryside and letting them run loose when they might chase rabbits and hares. Any ban that made that illegal would be massively unpopular and totally unenforceable. A selective ban making the chasing of hares illegal but not rabbits would also be unenforceable because of the difficulty in proving the quarry was a hare and anyway it would be impossible to train a dog to chase only rabbits and ignore hares.

A ban on intentional chasing of hares would also be unenforceable because of the difficulty in proving the intent.

The only ban that might be enforceable would be the making of organised competitive coursing illegal. However that would not stop the present illegal coursing and would result in non-competitive coursing with the landowners permission but without the safeguards for the hares imposed by the coursing rules and enforced by the clubs

There are no alternatives to coursing. So called "lure coursing" where a pair of sighthounds chase a lure that is dragged round bends is not coursing because the hounds are unable to influence (work) the inanimate lure, which is the basis of coursing.

A ban on hunting with dogs would do nothing to assist the conservation of the hare in the UK, indeed it would remove one good reason for conserving hares. Most estates where hares are currently preserved for sport would shoot many more hares to discourage poaching and to protect crops.

The overall economic effects of a ban on whippet coursing would be minimal in comparison to the effects of a ban on fox and hare hunting, or even greyhound coursing. However we estimate that expenditure would be reduced by about £60,000 if such a ban were introduced. Because most owners of coursing whippets live in rural or semi-rural areas this would have some effect on the rural economy.

A ban would be difficult, if not impossible to enforce.

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Date uploaded to site 24 May 2000