Hare coursing is generally seen as an offence committed casually by groups of individuals traveling around the country and chasing hares where they come across them. Frequently bets will be placed on the number of hares killed, which dog will be most successful and the number of times a hare ‘jinks’¹ before it is caught.

For the most part this is true but if there is illegal money to be made then organised criminal gangs will quickly move in. This is now happening with hare coursing where intelligence suggests that organised incidents are being filmed and streamed live using the internet so that gamblers, especially in China and other parts of Asia, can place bets on the event.

Dog fighting is already big business in the US with organised fighting rings making huge sums from illegal gambling at live fights or ones being live streamed.

The fights are transmitted via an encrypted system that utilises the ‘Dark Net’² to prevent internet service providers and thus police, from monitoring the content, the source or the destination.

Gambling on animal fights has always been popular with some individuals in the Asian world where betting on cock fights has been a problem for years. However the wonders of technology have now brought new terrors to the animals and landowners of our green and pleasant land.

¹ ‘Jinking’ is the number of times a hare changes direction during a course in its desperate attempts to avoid being caught by the dog chasing it.

² The ‘Dark Net’ is an area of the internet not accessible to standard browsers and search engines. Reputable sources suggest the ‘Dark Net’ is currently about the same size as the readily accessible internet.