The Irish Hare: A Legend In Peril

In a land shrouded in mythology and folklore, one creature stands out as mystical and mysterious as the land itself: The Irish hare.
This short film is the result of a year doing a Masters in Wildlife Filmmaking. It's what I like to refer to as 'a wildlife fairytale'.
Will the Irish hare be able to retain her rightful place in Ireland? And will her bizarre adaptation be enough to ensure her survival for many centuries more?

[@acechadwick]

Visiting my mother's grave once, as I was tidying it suddenly a form appeared just to the right of the headstone. Initially I thought it was a small human and we both froze. It was a hare, on its hind legs just standing upright and there was a moment in time when literally it stood still. And then I probably made an involuntary gesture and it just ran off. It was such a strange moment, I've never forgotten.

[@dihamilton9868]

Thank you for producing and sharing a film on such a beautiful animal. Hopefully their numbers will increase as more people come to appreciate their true value.

[@celtichare6736]

The most magnificent creature on the planet..Magical, mystical..Stunning.Beautiful video..These amazing animals must be nurtured by man!!

[@waterlilly1498]

On our Ireland vacation at the moment I looked out of the window early this morning and thought wow, what huge rabbits Out Here in the Backyard. Come to find out, i saw 3 hares. They are absolutely beautiful creatures. Glad i looked out the window when i did 😊

[@ahel2]

Great video for teaching the poem 'Lammas Hireling' by Ian Duhig - thanks for uploading!

[@NisarKhan-jm1uh]

The Irish hare is also known as the mountain hare and they can also be found in Scotland, the Alps,Fennoscandia, the baltics, northeast Poland, hokkaido and Eastern siberia in addition to Ireland

[@knowledges393]

Why they r calling it hare and why is not a rabbit I thought is rabbit please explain if you have time

[@NisarKhan-jm1uh]

@@knowledges393 It is clearly a hare. It has the characteristics of a hare, like having exceptionally long legs and ears for its size, being mostly solitary and living mostly above ground instead of in a burrow

[@paulenglish7500]

@@NisarKhan-jm1uh Irish hare is a subspecies of it's own.

[@NisarKhan-jm1uh]

@@paulenglish7500 yeah it is a subspecies of mountain hare as it doesn't have a white coat during the winter months

[@katetoullis9292]

Beautiful, a real treat.

[@juliashenandoah3965]

Such a lovely short film, about these elusive creatures and their mythical powers.

[@kristinawashington1773]

Lovely work! Thanks heaps for this. 👌

[@NoxForest]

Magnificent creatures.

[@Trash_Cat21]

Amazingly well done, truly captivating to watch! I hope they can make a comeback.

[@1e0s]

I can see how man has competed with hares in nature. We need to learn that every animal has a right to exist in it's own habitat. We need to exist according to our needs & not to perpetuate "for profit" organizations

[@vernonalexis1077]

The grass and the hare where naturalised together when land was free to roam Love thy Hare

[@gearrazkarraysgyfarnogod8554]

A very nice film, championing the beautiful hares ('giorra'?) They are really charismatic, fascinating and enigmatic. Refreshing with a film devoid of any cruelty to animals.

[@blucheer8743]

I never looked at them that way before!

[@nialllyons94]

Also travellers and other lurcher men who course illegally, often year-round, with no idea about conservation or sustainability is a massive problem.

[@vernonalexis1077]

True facts

[@dreamguardian8320]

So the Irish had their own version of Easter thanks to the Hare, Lapwings, and quails. Cool!

[@Hyzentley]

That was so beautiful, almost mythical. Hope I get to see an Irish hare in real life at some point (from Germany, here we only have the big brown ones, but I love them too)

[@shanareilly6649]

I love this video

[@tiernanwearen8096]

I love seeing the hares boxing in march

[@haroldinho9930]

I’ve seen one,they’re damn fast

[@davidwilcock279]

A sensitive film, nicely produced - but how can it be regarded as a serious portrayal of the threat facing the Irish Hare today, without even mentioning the dreadful 'sport' of hare coursing - illegal in Northern Ireland but pursued shamelessly and with gusto by the gambling 'community' in Eire - and which inflicts trauma, cruelty and death upon many hundreds of hares every year? Neither does it mention how scores of hares - including those at the supposedly 'safe sanctuary' of Ireland's airports, are netted and captured in numbers, for greyhounds to chase at hare coursing events. The threat to the survivial of the Irish Hare is very substantially greater than this film suggests. When will Ireland's politician's face up to the terrible stain that Hare Coursing inflicts on Ireland's name. For how much longer can the Government go on endorsing this terrifying, brutal activity?

[@clayfada2384]

David wilcock Irish politicians don't face up to their responsibilities to its human citizens let alone animals.In this case its far less likely anything will be done in england rural voters are insignificant not so in ireland.The only politicians interested are dublin far left TDS .

[@ambientograph1]

Nice film! This is the Lepus timidus species right? Same as we have lots of here in Sweden. Do they ever get white in Ireland?

[@Ice-dq3lv]

love seeing a good course on them

[@tiernanwearen8096]

Same here you own running dogs?

[@Ice-dq3lv]

@@tiernanwearen8096 ye bullhound

[@Ptarmi]

Did you ever hear such nonsense as the drivel spouted by the farmer? The fact is, we'd be far better off without modern Farming methods. There must be a better way!

[@ian_b]

We'd all starve to death.

[@obiwahndagobah9543]

You can do modern farming and respect nature, that's modern organic farming. I can't believe this farmer thinks the hares eat all the grass. You would need herds of them to do that

[@thomasmaguire545]

They the farmers have fucked up the country with there method's of farming. One time we could drink water from a stream not anymore.

[@crystalheart9]

obiwahn dagobah They have been around for 20,000 years and have lived in balance with nature all that time. Then a farmer shows up and says they eat all the grass!

[@k-pax532]

What a feckin eejit he is !

[@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344]

The Irish hare is a national treasure and need to be saved. Out in truly wild places of Ireland where its all bog and long grass with rivers clear as crystal there's hares everywhere but on farmland where some farmers don't leave land for nature and wildlife, the poor animals will move into the farmland for food. All some farmers need to do is leave a biteen of land aside for wildlife the cattle would produce bainne no bother. They're also all over the Midlands and West Coast from bogs to mountains so leave the poor giorraicha alone. I know this hatred is only in some farmers. Most farmers are mighty with Co operating with nature

[@rogerparker9228]

Did u know 2 hares can strip 200 newly planted trees over night. 5 hares eat equivalent of a large sheep. I can see why farmers dont want them about in numbers.

[@Retro-Future-Land]

I've noticed this too, one near my relatives laments the fact he tore all the trees down for his livestock stupid cattle as only one remains now.

[@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344]

@@rogerparker9228 ya you can prevent that by lining the fence with chicken wire. Hares don't burrow so if they can't get through they'll give up. Culling them is not necessary. It's just pure laziness on the planters part

[@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344]

@@Retro-Future-Land ya some people do that but not everyone does because most people have a high respect for forests

[@rogerparker9228]

@@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344 laziness?? Not cost then??

[@vicdantz0487]

Italian rabbit expert babe???

[@irishking1414]

What ever the story,Liam with his holy voice fucks it up

[@rayman4449]

Help the hares by hunting the predators that hunt them. Foxes for example kill large numbers of rabbits.

[@celtichound9889]

Then you have issues with other species becoming endangered. Also foxes eat animals other than hares like rabbits and field mice. Less foxes means more of those animals and more competition for the Irish hare. It would probably be better to go for the invasive European hare. It's already gotten a good footing in the north.

[@connietimms8442]

If we humans left nature alone, everything would be balanced.

[@nialllyons94]

A recent study from Queens University, Belfast found that coursing club reserves support 18 times the number of hares compared to typical Irish farmland. Be great if people could learn the facts before knocking the industry and lapping up the "animal rights" people' s propaganda. Coursing has been here for hundreds of years yet the recent drastic decline in hare numbers has taken place in the last few decades. The real threat to Irish hares is the relentless "reclaiming" of scrubland and wetlands like rushy meadows in order to convent the land to grassland monocultures. This habitat loss/fragmentation also makes predation from foxes, buzzards, grey crows etc. A much bigger threat

[@thetwoboyos8366]

So if the coursing clubs main objective is the conservation of hare numbers, and they seem to be more aware than the farmer obviously is of the decline in recent years, then why dont you guys lead the way and stop taking them from the wild, find an alternative means of coursing, And therefore strenghten the valid opinion you just made, that modern farming methods are the cause of reduced hare stocks in the wild... campaign instead for more natural habitats to be compulsively developed..

[@thetwoboyos8366]

@Eamonn noonan guess what, Your talkin shite, .. there was two or three hares round where I live, They were captured, and ive not seen one round all the fields here for at least two years.. I drive for a living, from before dawn til after dusk, in a truck you can view over all the ditches, I havnt seen one hare in the last eighteen months or so... even rabbit numbers are thin..

[@dundalkswildlifeandinallof8669]

I nearly stood on one once on the mountains in co. Louth muffins and a foundation of an old house I got a big frightand sorted the see CR him run off

[@raypurkissukwildlifeandlan5361]

Found on the Isle of Mull too!

[@julianhastings1547]

Well it's May 2021 and you'll be glad to know we have one on our land, I've no time for the farmers greed , over producing cattle etc having ruined 1/3 of Ireland's water table with their pollution just to line their own pockets, they are a disgrace!

[@ProfessorToadstool]

8:00 maybe if you weren't raising more cattle than the land can sustain you wouldn't have that problem, but i know, you gotta make a buck to support your lifestyle right? edit: maybe if you sad sacks were farming for actually sustaining life instead of profits most of your 'problems' would vanish

[@knowledges393]

I can’t understand why hare? I think is just another type if bunny... im so confused and I don’t like this confused feeling...

[@obiwahndagobah9543]

I'm sorry, but the painting at 6:38 shows the "Young Hare" (1502) from Albrecht Dürer, a German artist, depicting a local brown hare.

[@iamshark6221]

8:32 HOW DARE YOU >:(

[@sirvidia]

Wiki says Eostre is a Germanic rather than Celtic goddess. I'd like to see the farmer's claims tested.

[@soulfulfool]

Irish got beautiful hare's, I got my own Polish hare took it to my home because I was afraid that mother left it after human touch it near the fabric I work. She love me I just hope I did well, my intentions were good after all

[@papyshak]

Moving as quickly as sound right under speeding cars We need to secure the roads

[@johndrone2516]

The biggest threat to the Irish hare , are licensed coursing clubs . They collect hundreds of hares annually from the wild and store them In makeshift pens to be used as live lures for coursing competitions . The real damage is caused when they re -release the hares back into the wild , leaving them temporarily disoriented and often dishevelled . It is at this time that the hare is is particularly vulnerable to a range of threats , like foxes , hunting dogs and birds of prey . It typically takes a released hare a couple of weeks to adjust to their restored Freedom and be come familiar with there surroundings . A very pertinent point to be considered is that , in order to operate licenced hare coursing competitions , a REAL hare is not required . a LURE ( dummy hare ) would be just as effective , considering the object is essentially " a race " to the hare . It ( dummy hare ) works perfectly well in the greyhound racing industry so why not use it for coursing also . The result would be exponential regrowth of Irish hare populations , and coursing clubs would free themselves from the un wanted stigma / attention that they receive . The coursing greyhounds would be non the wiser , and everyone , not least the hare would live happily ever after . THE END.

[@nialllyons94]

Absolutely not true

[@barryolaith]

The hare, or any wildlife, are not the farmers to kill.

[@lynnleigha580]

A hare ain't a rabbit and a rabbit ain't a hare

[@celtichound9889]

At yet so many people in the comments are still calling them rabbits.

[@markcoffey5066]

Facts about hares in this film are nonsense somebody plucked them out of they're arse hares are not as solitary as they say and they're plenty of hares in Ireland hares in airports is a disaster we had to go into farranfore airport last year to remove hares because they were having 40 strikes a year hares also breed all year round

[@saturn1returns]

Most of Ireland's native wildlife are hunted aggressively, for laughs. They have a really bad reputation for animal welfare. It's a lovely country, shame about the bloodsports though.

[@dundalkswildlifeandinallof8669]

That man is going to back to hers it on the grass is a Dalek from Doctor Who as there any staminate if that was true I don't think it actually True

[@Hoffson5]

Absolutely destroying these creatures were I live for a cycle lane, disgraceful 😔

[@katherinedohnalek7982]

It's not just the hare, it's all wildlife that is suffering and has suffered for way too long. Wildlife numbers are drastically declining all over the world. The experts say it is due to predation, animal and human and rapidly extensive loss of habitat. Farms, palm oil, timber, mining take your pick. What this means to our world when we no longer have pollinators, when species goes extinct that performed a task and can no longer do so. Think about what it means for the future. No birds or bats to eat the mosquitos and bugs. I could go on and on but once they are gone, that's it. One day, it will be too late, no turning back the clock and saying I am sorry!

[@brendanconnollyandirelandw889]

👍

[@rawpotato3651]

Chubby chungu😆😆😆

[@jamesfitzgerald31]

-tis.not.a.rabbit.its.a way of.life ----..v... rodger fedora

[@Jackylification]

It's easy to criticise the farmer but this nonsense is the fault of the government. farmers are struggling, even though we all need food. Education is the key.. our government isn't a fan of that though and would rather encourage the farming communities misrepresentation of the animals