Hare coursing has started already with police receiving reports this week, particularly in the North of Hampshire.

Suspicious vehicles, suspected to be involved in coursing, have been spotted on farmland in areas including Kingsclere, Hannington, and Herriard.

During one incident in Kingsclere on 5 July, a farmer was threatened with a catapult, and an incident in Herriard reported on 9 July saw an offending vehicle narrowly avoid colliding with a victim’s dog. This vehicle was later located and seized by police in Liphook, and a Lurcher dog was seized by police in Herriard.

Coursing not only involves the poaching of hares, but often sees significant damage caused to the farmland by individuals and vehicles trespassing, in addition to intimidation and threats of violence towards landowners.

We anticipate seeing further incidents elsewhere in the county, and urge people to be aware and to report coursing and associated damage to us.

If the crime is in progress, call 999 quoting Operation Galileo.

We would like to remind people to never approach the individuals involved in this type of crime – your safety is priority.

If it is safe to do so, you can consider obtaining any photos or video/Dash Cam footage to provide to the police. 

When calling the police, provide as much information as you can, such as:

If you have the What3Words app, you can also use this to provide location data to the police call handler. Find out more about What3Words here: https://what3words.com/products/what3words-app

If the crime is not in progress or has just happened, or you have any information or intelligence about any rural and wildlife crime, you can report this to police by calling 101, using the report tool on www.hampshire.police.uk or reporting anonymously to the charity Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111.

If you are a member of DISC you can also use this platform to provide information to the police.

If you have a business connection to the rural and wildlife environment, you may be eligible to be a member of DISC. Please email discreports@hampshire.police.uk 

The more information we have from you the better placed we are to target our resources and patrols to disrupt those involved in rural crime.