Gangs, violence and dumped dead animals: The hidden world of illegal hare hunts
Illegal Hare Coursing: A Secret World of Violence and Organized Crime
Constantvpn.com – On a quiet Cambridgeshire property where the closest neighbor lives half a mile distant, Mathew Latta was preparing lunch when the tranquility was broken by roaring engines. Through his window, he watched a procession of over twelve four-wheel-drive vehicles approaching his land. Workers had sliced through his iron gates using an angle grinder and relocated concrete barriers to allow the convoy passage. The vehicles sped across his fields, damaging crops and narrowly missing the fence surrounding his family’s garden.
More than seventy individuals emerged from the vehicles, many wearing military-style clothing and face coverings. They cheered and played music while releasing dogs on leashes to pursue hares. “They were all stood up on their cars with binoculars,” Latta recalled. “I would say this is 100% a properly organised coursing event, with competitors and competitive dogs. People watching the course – and watching and betting on that sport. It was quite terrifying.”
The Latta family found themselves confined inside their house. Despite repeated calls to authorities, no response arrived. His seven-year-old daughter grew increasingly frightened, repeatedly asking whether the intruders would enter their home. After more than three hours, the bloodsport concluded and participants departed, leaving four vehicles behind, including one completely destroyed car.
It emerged that, earlier that day, the convoy had rampaged through an area 20 miles (32km) long in the county, forcing other cars off the road and even robbing a petrol station.
This incident illustrates contemporary hare coursing, an age-old practice where greyhounds or lurchers pursue hares that coursers typically drive from their natural habitat. Competitors earn points based on how often dogs make hares change direction during the chase, as well as for successful kills. The activity achieved its greatest popularity during the nineteenth century before being prohibited throughout the United Kingdom in 2005.
The BBC Radio 4 podcast “Dead Rabbit” launched its investigation following mysterious discoveries of deceased hares and other creatures in two Hampshire villages during 2024. In Awbridge, over twenty carcasses—predominantly hares and rabbits, plus a muntjac deer with its head severed—appeared outside a primary school. Young students wept upon arriving for classes and encountering what resembled a horror film setting.
Approximately seven miles to the north in Broughton, around fifty hares lay scattered near the village community shop entrance. Blood marked the doors, while a deceased barn owl and kestrel hung from the door handles.
What our investigation found was a hidden world of highly organised illegal bloodsport events taking place in rural areas, often by lamplight in the dead of night, with trophies, big money prizes, valuable hunting dogs and sometimes even international gambling.
Police Freedom of Information Act responses obtained by the BBC revealed nearly 9,000 hare coursing reports across Britain over three years. While these numbers may contain duplicates or missing cases, they demonstrate the substantial scope of the issue. Cambridgeshire Constabulary acknowledged being “very stretched” during the January incident when Latta’s farm was invaded.
Supt Ben Martin explained that coursers deliberately caused chaos throughout the county to divert police attention to incorrect locations. Following this setback, officers intensified their investigation, ultimately detaining over forty individuals and bringing charges against twenty-five, with several convictions secured.
As authorities identified the participants, they discovered they had traveled from across the nation—Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Berkshire, and north Wales. “People had come hundreds of miles to be there that day,” Martin noted. The operation revealed a sophisticated network sustained by organized crime groups employing threats and physical force to maintain secrecy around these nighttime events featuring substantial monetary rewards and international wagering.
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