I saw this piece on indymedia Ireland recently. It was written by somebody calling himself The Hare in response to an anti-coursing article on the site. I find it interesting the way the writer identifies with the hare just as the writers of the old ballads did.

"We the Hares of Northern Ireland want the ban on hare coursing in the North over turned.
Most of my friends are now dead since the ban was introduced, the misguided who lobbied for the ban have hastened our demise.
We were once a thriving population but since the ban we have become targets by many, before the ban the Coursing people looked after us, chased away poachers and ensured we were well fed before they allowed us to play the game of life with the dogs, such fun we had running the dogs into the ground, the mighty Hare won far more than he lost until the ban and now we find our numbers dropping to less that 50% of what was here before the ban.
Our cousins in Southern Ireland are still thriving as the Coursing people look out for them.
Its so sad that the misguided try to force their beliefs on the world even when the damage they are doing is proven by scholars, they are so single minded they will be the cause of the hare population in the North becoming extinct.
We were in such a good place before the activists decided they knew what was best for us, now thousands of us are dead the activists still continue to try and kill the rest of us, what did we do to you to deserve this Mr Activist?

The Hare"