15th February 2026
TWO men have been found guilty of being equipped to search for brown hares with dogs – after they were discovered with dogs and equipment.
Elijah Boswell, 38, of Smithy’s Lane in Barnsley, and Shaun Price, 54, of Dunningly Lane in Wakefield, were both fined for hare coursing offences, after a trial held at Beverley Magistrates’ Court last week.
Boswell was ordered to pay £1,061, while Price, was fined £1,339.
The incident took place in December 2023 in Faxfleet, Goole, and after receiving reports, officers stopped a vehicle near the scene and found lurcher-type dogs and a thermal scope.
Both men gave no explanation for the items during police interviews.
PC Rich Fussey of the Rural Task Force said: “Illegal hare coursing is not only a priority for our Rural Task Force, but also for the UK Wildlife Crime partnership.
“This kind of criminality involved is serious, and perpetrators are organised and sophisticated in their planning, often involving cross-border offending.”
“Not only does it involve barbaric acts against protected wildlife species, but it causes harassment, alarm, distress and annoyance to the rural communities.
“Poachers do not care about trespassing across farmland, intimidation to farmers and landowners, and the damage they cause. However, they do care about the zero-tolerance response that we have towards their illegal activities.
“I hope this case and the seizure of the thermal scope used in the commission of hare coursing offences sends out a strong message.”
The public are urged to report suspected hare coursing by calling 101 and quoting Op Galileo.
https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/25856317.two-convinced-hare-coursing-beverley-magistrates/
Why the hell do these evil bastards not get sent to jail????Any human that wants to chase a defenceless animal to exhaustion then set dogs on then are pure evil filthy scum and should be locked up maybe a mental institute for life. Personally I would like to set a pack of leopards tigers lions on these parasites thats what they deserve this sort of disgusting cruelty will never stop while we have such ridiculous laws in this country. get rid of human rights and bring back the birch I would be very happy to do the job.