Gates smashed and crops destroyed as farmers threatened by gangs hunting hares

Image caption, Chris Edwards has been placing barriers like this massive tree trunk in front of the entrances to his fields - in a bid to deter hare coursers. BySteffan MessengerWales environment correspondentPublished29 minutes agoIn the countryside west of the Welsh capital, farmers have a WhatsApp group to warn of suspicious vehicles and some have barricaded the entrances to their fields with concrete blocks and fallen trees."They're watching us - which is probably the most disconcerting part about it," said Chris Edwards."

We harvest the field and within hours, they're there."He's seen gates "smashed off their hinges" and crops destroyed by trespassers illegally hunting hares with dogs. Neighbours have faced threats, "verbal and physical", when they've tried to intervene.

South Wales Police confirmed the Vale of Glamorgan was seeing an increase in hare coursing, and said the force was taking action.Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Hare coursing is the pursuit of a hare with the purpose of making money through gambling"It's a massive problem," said Edwards, a beef and sheep farmer from Colwinston."We're close to Cardiff, Bridgend, Swansea - there are good links to the motorway and A roads so people can travel here."

To access his own fields, the 45-year-old now has to use a JCB to move giant logs he's placed in front of the gates."It's got to the stage now that if we don't put a log like that in the gateway they force access. We've tried chains and padlocks but they get cut off."

We've had vehicles ram gates and smash [them] off their hinges, and then when they leave... we have animals out on the road"."Once we get into the autumn and we're planting for next year, they leave ruts in the ground and they're damaging the crops."

Image caption, Vehicle tracks are clearly seen in this drone footage of one of Chris Edwards' fieldsJames Tudor of the local branch of farming union NFU Cymru warned of incidents where farmers had been "physically threatened" after approaching hare coursers on their land."We've had property damaged, windows of vehicles have been smashed, intimidation, all sorts of problematic behaviour," he said."Farming's in a tough place anyway at the moment and this is further strain."

The farming community had "a good relationship" with local police teams who he acknowledged were supportive."But we need a wider police presence... to get hold of these people as they're in the act."

South Wales Police was also "the only police force [in Wales] that doesn't have designated rural crime officers", he added.What is hare coursing?Hare coursing is the illegal pursuit of hares by dogs, which are judged by how closely they can follow the twists and turns of the animal as it tries to escape.

It was banned under the Hunting Act 2004.But in recent years, a number of police forces have warned of a spike in cases, with reports of links to online gambling and organised crime.West Mercia Police issued an urgent notice regarding a "significant increase" in Shropshire in August 2025, followed by Warwickshire Police in November.

Welsh forces recently formed Operation Galileo Cymru, working with farming unions and other agencies to share intelligence and coordinate action on hare coursing and associated rural crimes.Image caption, South Wales Police say they are proactively patrolling farms to reassure the farming community and deter potential hare coursersThe Vale of Glamorgan had "definitely seen an increase in hare coursing", confirmed Inspector Huw Tyler of South Wales Police - "and with it an increase in intimidation and violence incidents"."We're looking to tackle that now with some more proactive policing," he said, pointing to new funding for portable automatic number plate recognition technology and the use of drone operators.

Introducing dedicated rural crime officers was also being considered as well as working with Natural Resources Wales on a potential secondment with the environment watchdog."The local community have been really engaging with us, we've built up a really good network with the farming community and we're encouraging them to report as much as possible so we can get a good intelligence picture and good information to really highlight how big an issue it is in the area," Tyler said."Across the country we're aware that some hare coursing can be linked to organised crime and illegal gambling online - however we don't have that information locally at the moment."

Image source, NFU CymruImage caption, Farmers have had to resort to placing concrete barriers in front of their gatesDet Con Richard Paskell, part of the neighbourhood policing team in the Vale of Glamorgan, said officers were working hard "to stamp out this blood sport" and had stepped up patrols of hare coursing hot spots.Police teams were seeing "changes in the behaviour" of those carrying out the illegal activity - with an "increase in the damage [caused] and the cost [to farmers]"."Where previously they would have maybe parked out