THREE men are to appear in court over suspected hare coursing in the Salisbury area.

Yesterday morning (Tuesday, November 12), at around 8.40am, we received a report of suspicious activity on private farmland in Barford St Martin.

Hare coursing is where dogs are used to chase hares.  

Three men and three dogs were seen on the land who had no permission to be there.

Descriptions of the men and their vehicle were passed to call handlers and officers attended the scene.

Three men from the Poole area were located and searched and have been summoned to court under section 30 of the Game Act and their vehicle was seized.

Section 35 dispersal orders were also issued, which give police powers to disperse individuals in order to remove or reduce the likelihood of members of the public becoming "harassed, alarmed or distressed" or in this case, "the occurrence of crime or disorder" in a particular area.

Inspector Liz Coles said: “This was excellent team work by all officers and staff involved in locating these individuals.

“I’d like to thank the vigilant member of the public who initially reported this activity to us – I hope this encourages others who may suspect criminal activity to be taking place in our rural areas to report it so we can take action immediately.

“I know our rural communities can often feel isolated so I really hope that success stories like this one provide reassurance to those living in rural areas. We are fully committed to tackling rural crime and keeping our county safe and I am pleased that we have been able to disrupt hare coursing on this occasion.”