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Campaign for the Abolition of Animal Slavery
Anchor:
vegetarian
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It's not the police we've got to watch, it's the antis with their video cameras." Graham Bridgeman, the Chairman of Eggesford Hunt. Hunt
supporters have offered their opponents a major concession in an attempt to win
parliamentary support for an overturn of the ban on hunting. Hunts have backed
plans for the sport to be put under tight regulation to stamp out any
unnecessary cruelty if hunting was made legal. The proposal, led by Lord
Donoughue, the senior Labour peer, has also won the backing of Tory and Labour
MPs and peers. The move comes after months of uncertainty over the issue
and with growing doubt about whether David Cameron can deliver his promised
repeal of the Hunting Act. In a significant change of strategy, the hunting
community has agreed that Lord Donoughue should chair a proposed Hunting
Regulatory Authority which would oversee the sport if it was legalised.
The HRA will apply a strict code of practice to ensure that hunting is carried
out without causing unnecessary suffering; that hunts respect animals, property,
land and crops; that it is only carried out on land with the permission of the
owner and that no one involved brings the sport into disrepute. Breeches of the
rules could result in prosecution in the courts with those found guilty fined or
permanently disbarred from hunting. Keep
the Hunting Act Government
bows to shooting groups The
government has acceded to the wishes of shooting groups and scrapped plans that
would have freed millions of pheasants from small cages. Jim Paice, the new
farming minister, withdrew a new code of practice for the welfare of Britain's
40m game birds after pressure from country sports organisations including the
Game Farmers' Association and the Countryside Alliance. His predecessor Jim
Fitzpatrick placed the code before Parliament in May, in one of the last acts of
the Labour government. It set out minimum space requirements for breeding birds.
Mr Paice, who killed it off days before it would have come into force, is
expected to introduce a revised code within 2 months, without rules that would
force farmers to use larger ground pens instead of raised wire cages.
Pro-hunting groups welcomed the move, saying they were confident the revised
code would "address welfare concerns without imposing unjustified
restrictions on game farmers". The RSPCA complained that the move meant
birds would remain in cramped, unnatural conditions and is urging its members to
protest to MPs. Mr Paice's decision is the latest twist in a long-running
controversy over the intensive rearing of pheasants and partridges for shooting.
Although many people assume the semi-wild animals are reared on farmland, they
only spend their last few weeks roaming around on moors after being bred and
kept on specialist farms. 2 years ago the Farm Animal Welfare Council, the
Government's veterinary advisers, expressed concern about breeding birds in
barren wire mesh cages suspended from the ground. It also criticised the placing
in their mouths of plastic "bits" to stop cannibalistic behaviour in
the confined space and especially the use of mask-like contraptions called
"bumpa-bits". "Birds were kept in a barren environment on wire
floors, with minimal opportunity for seclusion," the report said.
"Design appeared to be influenced more by cost and manufacturing
requirements than welfare." In March the Labour government published a Code
of Practice for the Welfare of Game Birds that dropped a requirement to ban the
cages, but specified a pheasant must have a square metre of space and a grey
partridge half a square metre, together with guidance on space for perches and
exercise. It also banned "bumpa-bits". The RSPCA said, in effect, the
code would have banned small cages and exposed any farmer using them to
potential prosecution under the 2006 Animal Welfare Act. Farmers would have had
to keep pheasants and partridges in larger pens built over natural ground. When
the Government was elected, 5 shooting organisations wrote to Defra. The Game
Farmer's Association warned the new code would have affected 43% of partridge
and 6% of pheasant production, leaving game rearers facing "chaos and bills
running to millions of pounds" and forcing production to unregulated
overseas operators. At the end of May, Defra removed the code from its website.
At a confidential meeting of its Gamebird Working Group on 7 June, Mr Paice said
the code was being withdrawn, indicating the ban on bumpa-bits would be kept and
the space requirements dropped. Alice Clark, senior scientific officer at the
RSPCA, said: "We are extremely concerned it was withdrawn, because ... the
version laid before Parliament offered a number of improvements for game birds,
specifically on cages." A
number of Hunting Act prosecutions are
getting under way across England and Wales. As some cases are still in the
police stages we could compromise the police investigation by revealing more
here, but information will be published in due course. Richard
Down, Huntsman with the Quantock Staghounds, is facing trial for a
Hunting Act offence, as is Alistair
Richardson, a terrierman linked to the Ullswater Foxhounds in
Cumbria who will go on trial on 21st
& 22nd July in Penrith. North West Hunt Saboteurs Association
LATEST
RESULT: FOUND GUILTY 2
supporters of the Coniston Foxhounds in Cumbria have been cautioned
following
an altercation in which a hunt monitor was pushed off a wall. The incident,
which took place in March this year, was captured on video camera used by the
hunt monitors, who were working for the League Against Cruel Sports, which has
now published film of the assault on their website. They had been monitoring the
Coniston Foxhounds but, on losing sight of the hunt, they were returning to
their vehicle when the incident took place. Ed Shephard, the League’s
Investigation Officer who was on the scene on the day of the incident, said it
had been a “terrifying” experience and it had been one of the worst
experiences of his many years hunt monitoring. “I’m very disappointed that
these bullies are getting away with a caution. The police dealt with the case
admirably, but the CPS decision to leave it at a caution makes no sense.” In
the film, also published on YouTube, an elderly hunt supporter is seen pointing
at a hunt monitor and saying, “that bugger needs doing”. The monitor is then
pushed off a wall down a steep embankment. The League Against Cruel Sports’
chief executive, Douglas Batchelor, said that this was only the latest example
of the verbal and physical abuse meted out to his staff and volunteers by hunt
supporters. “If these thugs were carrying on like this down some high street,
there would be hell to pay. There seems to be one law for the hunters and one
for everyone else,” he said. 3
officials of the Sinnington Hunt in N. Yorkshire have been summoned to
court to answer claims they hunted illegally. The CPS has begun proceedings
against huntsman Anthony Graham Winter, whipper-in Caroline Scott and Wilfred
Gamble. The alleged offence took place on 16th Dec 2009 and evidence
was collected by covert monitors working for the League Against Cruel Sports.
Winter, Scott and Gamble have all been summoned to appear at Scarborough
Magistrates' Court on 23rd July. This is the same week that Alistair
Robinson, a terrierman connected to the Ullswater Foxhounds in Cumbria will
stand trial at Penrith Magistrates' Court accused of offences under the Hunting
Act. A spokesman for the League Against Cruel Sports said he was
"encouraged" by the news of the prosecution. "Our legal and
operations teams work incredibly hard to gather evidence to police standards,
using a variety of covert surveillance techniques. It's good to see N. Yorkshire
Police and the CPS taking the matter seriously, and as we head closer to the
next hunting season we look forward to seeing this approach mirrored around the
country," he said. Fox
attack/scare stories Twins
attacked in cots in London. First reports on London media said
“the dog didn’t stir as the fox went past the room where the family were
watching TV and went up the stairs”. Now all reports say the family don’t
have a dog. Pupils
at 2 primary schools
have been kept indoors at lunch-time after a fox was spotted in
the playground. The animal was spotted outside Cefn Onn Primary School, which
shares a site with Ysgol Y Wern Primary School in Llanishen, Cardiff. A
playgroup
at Dorothy Stringer School in Brighton had fox under prefab in
the playground. When a child reached underneath for a ball he got bitten. To
their credit, the parents have kept it all in perspective, called in John Bryant
for advice of deterring foxes and the playgroup is up and running again.
Even the local paper didn’t condemn foxes. A
woman
reported in Daily Mail had her foot bitten twice by a fox,
who jumped on her bed. Comments
after the story said it all!!!! Nobody
seems to be going along with all the paranoia and hunters are being bashed on
every comments page. The Countryside Alliance is keeping a VERY low profile. A
family's pet Chihuahua
is savaged to death in the latest attack by an urban fox.
Princess, a 2-year-old Chihuahua did not stand a chance when she was snapped up
by the jaws of a large fox which crept onto Toby Khanna's property in broad
daylight. Watched by his devastated young children, the 38-year-old immediately
chased after the intruder as it leapt over a 4ft high fence, and although he
managed to wrest Princess from its grip, she was already dead. Pest
Control
companies are happy as the spreading paranoia is causing more
people to contact them. Sick
thugs are catching foxes in nets and
then using them in vicious illegal fights with pit bull terriers. The animals
have become targets since twins were attacked in their cot by a fox. Wildlife
volunteer Toby Horrod said: "These yobs used to train dogs by fighting them
against stray cats. Then they started catching the foxes for the same
reason." He added: "They take their dogs and nets into the park to
round up and catch the foxes. It's sick. "Some guy even came up and asked
if there were badgers in the park. That's next, I guess - badger baiting."
The horrific fights have been on a housing estate near Russia Dock Woodlands in
Rotherhithe, S. London. One wounded creature was found tied to a bench - a chain
through its paw. Fox expert Trevor Williams said the animals would be ripped to
pieces by any pit bull. He added: "Despite the uproar after the Hackney
twins attack, foxes don't have any weaponry when it comes to animals.
"They're like whippets in their build - cats are forever seeing them
off." Posters around the estate warn: "Certain persons are indulging
in fox-hunting and baiting in this area. This can result in heavy penalties,
including fines, removing of dogs from owners and other punishments."
Receptionist Carol Cox, who lives on the estate, said: "They lay fox traps
in the woods which sometimes trap cats. It's been awful. We had to keep pets
inside because they were going missing." Local conservation chairman Steve
Cornish said: "One woman saw a man in the park with a large dog, a club and
a net one night. She shouted 'The police are coming'. He ran off but it shows it
is happening." The 1835 Cruelty to Animals Act in England and Wales was the
first legislation in the world that made it an offence to indulge in dog
fighting. Last
year the League Against Cruel Sports started a campaign to tackle dog fighting. The
new campaign, called Fighting Dogs, will tackle not just dogs
fighting other dogs, but all the instances where dogs are made to fight other
animals. This includes dog fighting, badger baiting, terrier work, and the
use of dogs to fight foxes in urban areas. ASA
ruling on Lush campaign Lush
boss Mark Constantine has defended his company’s anti-hunting campaign after
it was banned by the advertising watchdog. following 129 complaints.
A leaflet by the Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) and distributed in Lush
stores read: “Hunting ban, what hunting ban?”, while a postcard by Lush
stated : “The hunts are still at it! The foxes still need your help”, with a
note inviting customers to forward it to their local police chief constable.
Complainants to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) raised a range
of issues with the campaign, including complaints that it unfairly denigrated
hunts and hunters (complaint not upheld) and misleadingly implied that hunts
were intentionally and regularly breaking the law (complaint upheld). But Mr
Constantine, who founded the Poole-based ethical beauty products company, said:
“Of the 9 things that were complained about the ASA agreed with us on 7,
including the fact that 75% of the general public do not wish to see hunting
return. “One of the things they felt we were too critical of was in relation
to the policing of hunts. “We said
police spend around £400,000 policing the hunt, and around £9m on policing the
animal rights people who film the hunts. “I think this is a question of the
resources being reapplied.” Complaints
also argued the campaign misleadingly implied that the Hunting Act was not being
properly enforced and that any form of hunting with dogs was illegal, and a
claim that “hunting hounds usually lead short lives and are often killed and
fed back to the pack” could not be substantiated. Lush says it regularly
undertakes animal welfare campaigns and aims to raise awareness of the 2004
Hunting Act and highlight alleged breaches of the act and its perceived
limitations. It added that the
campaign did not use any graphic or shocking images, bad language or demeaning
or abusive names, and believed that customers were unlikely to find the
advertising offensive. The ASA ruled
that the ads must not appear again in their current form. Hare
coursing banned in N. Ireland The
Assembly has voted to ban hare coursing in N. Ireland. A motion to outlaw the
use of greyhounds to chase and kill hares was passed by 23 to 18 and has been
incorporated into the Wildlife and Natural Environment (NI) Bill. It
is expected to come into force after the summer. It follows a series of
temporary bans by successive Environment Ministers on taking hares. Assembly
Members will also be considering a Private Members Bill introduced by the Green
Party aimed at banning fox hunting. N. Ireland is the only part of the UK where
hunting foxes with dogs remains legal. Amendments were tabled and debated as the
Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill had its first reading. The Bill introduces
jail sentences for persistent wildlife criminals as well as larger fines. Added
investigation and enforcement powers have been given to the police to tackle
wildlife crime. Public bodies will now have a new duty to ‘conserve
biodiversity’ so that all work done by public bodies will need to take the
effects on wildlife into account. New offences have been introduced for reckless
damage or disturbance to protected birds, animals and their habitats, including
those in Areas of Special Scientific Interest. It’s already illegal to cut
hedges during the breeding season but this new rule will mean there is no need
to prove that damage was intentional, just reckless. The Bill also gives new
protection to the nests of certain birds whose nests are used year after year,
including birds of prey such as red kite, barn owl and peregrine as well as the
golden eagle, osprey and white-tailed eagle. The RSPB welcomed the new measures,
but said it was disappointed that more bird species can now be kept in captivity
to be shown at competitions. It promised to work with the Dept of the
Environment to make sure this does not lead to illegal trapping of birds to
supply the trade. “All in all it has been a good result for nature,” RSPB
conservation manager Anne-Marie McDevitt said. “We campaigned hard to ensure
these changes took place, including petitioning for stronger protection for
birds of prey.” The Bill is expected to go through its 2nd reading
in the autumn. The
vote on legislation to ban the Ward Union carted stag hunt has
just been voted through by the majority – we can now safely say the Ward Union
hunt’s days are up. On July 2nd
the vital legislation was sent to the president for approval and then sworn into
law. This new legislation marks an historic day for our battle against cruelty
to animals in Ireland. Less
than 24 hours prior to the Ward Union hunt ban legislation debate,
over 100 supporters of ARAN
descended on Dail Eireann to bring attention to animal abuse in Ireland and to
urge the passage of the impending Ward
Union hunt ban and the Dog Breeding Establishment Bill.
During the lively demonstration, members and supporters kept arriving
from 5.45pm right through to 8.30pm. Many held signs and placards whilst waving
to urge support from passing traffic. The demonstration also gained considerable
press coverage from various radio stations, including a 25 minute interview with
ARAN and RISE’s Liam Cahill. RTE’s Morning Ireland also covered our campaign event as did
various other stations. Newspapers including The Irish Sun, The Irish Times and Sunday Business Post covered the campaign, along with a TV3 news
television crew who covered the demonstration. On another radio interview, ARAN
blasted Labour’s Joanna Tuff for doing a u-turn on their decision to back the
Ward Union hunt. During our event, we were joined by independent TD Maureen
O’Sullivan and a team of staff from our friends at 2 of Dublin’s LUSH stores
armed with petitions and letters signed by their many hundreds of customers.
The entire event was hugely peaceful, extremely well supported, upbeat
and very welcoming to the many of our supporters who were attending for their
first time. We were able to descend on Dail Eireann to remind legislators that
people that have the power to end all blood sports and all forms of animal
abuse, and hear the animals’ plea. Germany Delivers an Ultimatum
to Iceland on Whaling It
has been a very bad news week for the whalers. First, the Japanese were caught
red-handed by the Sunday Times of the U.K. in a bribery scandal and vote-buying
scheme with the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Then a former whaler
spilt the beans on his colleagues by blowing the whistle on illegal activity
onboard the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru. Palau announced it would no
longer vote for Japan, and Germany has openly declared that if Iceland wants in
the European Community, it will have to abolish the killing of the whales. The
German congress had passed a decree on April 22nd, 2010 to declare
full support for formal negotiations with Iceland with the aim of bringing
Iceland in as a full member of the EU. But the decree carried the stipulation
that Iceland must make amends with regards to whale preservation in accordance
with international and EU law. Iceland must join the EU to maintain its economy
at the standard it has until recently enjoyed. The price for joining will be to
end their barbaric whaling practices. So it appears that the Axis of Whalers
will soon be down from 3 to 2, leaving only Norway and Japan as the last 2
stubborn hold-outs in a world that views whaling as unnecessary, barbaric,
cruel, and ecologically destructive. Victory
for anti-whaling campaigners The
controversial attempt to scrap the 24 yr old international moratorium on
commercial whaling has collapsed, to the delight of anti-whaling campaigners and
the frustration of Japan, Norway and Iceland, the 3 countries which continue to
hunt whales in defiance of world opinion. Delegates from the 88 member states of
the International Whaling Commission (IWC), meeting in Agadir, Morocco, were
unable to reach agreement, after 2 days of talks behind closed doors, on the 3
yr old proposal to abandon the official whaling ban in exchange for smaller,
agreed kills by the whaling states. Britain was part of an EU group that
strongly opposed the plan. The issue is now off the agenda for at least a year,
until the next meeting of the IWC, but the result was greeted as a triumph by
some environment groups who feared that the deal would put the future of the
great whales in jeopardy once again. "We have won the battle to keep the
ban in place, but we must continue to fight to win the war on all whaling,"
said the chief executive of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, Chris
Butler-Stroud. "Yes, the moratorium still stands but we must not forget
that Japan, Iceland and Norway continue to whale outside of the sanction of the
IWC, and that is a situation that has to change. Their whaling activities must
come to an end once and for all." The leader of the British delegation at
the talks, the Minister for the Marine Environment, Richard Benyon, said.
"We in the UK have been consistently clear that any new agreement must
reduce the numbers of whales that are killed each year with the aim of a
complete phase-out of all commercial whaling. We could not support an agreement
that did not have conservation at its heart." However, the Japanese whaling
commissioner Yasue Funayama, said her country had offered major concessions to
reach a compromise and blamed anti whaling countries that refused to accept the
killing of a single animal. "We must rise above politics and engage in a
broader perspective," she said. The deal which failed was originally
proposed by the US which was seeking agreement with Japan to secure whaling
permissions for its Inuit native peoples in Alaska, without the Japanese making
tit-for-at trouble because of US support for the moratorium
something which had happened in 2002. It would have allowed commercial
whaling to be legitimised once again for a period of 10 yrs, with official IWC
"quotas" set for the number of whales which each country would catch.
The sweetener of the deal was that these numbers would supposedly be
lower than the number of whales actually being killed by Japan, Norway and
Iceland outside the IWC, a figure currently running at about 1,500 a year, so in
the end whales as a whole would benefit. But no quotas had actually been agreed,
and many of the anti whaling countries thought such a deal would be virtually
impossible to police, besides opening up commercial whaling to potential new
participants, such as S. Korea. The
Independent 24 June Capt
Bethune’s trial The
trial resumed on June 10th, and Captain Bethune’s attorneys and the
prosecutor read their closing statements. Capt Bethune also read a
statement in Japanese – intended for the court, the world, and, in particular,
the Japanese people. He wanted to do that as a sign of respect for the Japanese
people. It is important to him that Japan understand that neither he nor Sea
Shepherd has ever had any problem with Japan or its people. The actions of Capt
Bethune and of Sea Shepherd are designed to end whaling wherever it may be
happening. The issue is whaling, not Japan. After the June 10th
hearing, the 3 judges in charge of trying Capt Bethune retired to issue their
verdict and sentence, if any. He has been in a Japanese jail since March 12th
and he was held in custody on the Shonan Maru 2 prior to
that, totaling well over 100 days in captivity to date. The Japanese Coast
Guard continues to refuse to investigate the Shonan Maru 2’s
intentional sinking of the Ady Gil (the ship that
Capt Bethune was at the helm of) or even to cooperate with the ongoing
investigations of the New Zealand and Australian maritime authorities. Latest:
New
Zealand anti-whaling activist Pete Bethune
has been
sentenced to jail for 2 years by a Japanese court, but it has been suspended,
Tokyo media report. Bethune pleaded guilty last month to charges relating to the
illegal boarding of a Japanese whaling ship, but not guilty to assault, after
being held in custody since February, when he boarded the Japanese whaling
fleet's security ship the Shonan Maru II during its annual trip south. Bethune
was captain of the US-based environmentalist group's futuristic powerboat, the
Ady Gil - his former record-setting trimaran Earthrace - which sank after an
earlier collision with the Shonan Maru II. He tried to serve a citizen's arrest
warrant to the captain of the Shonan Maru II over the sinking of his vessel and
the attempted murder of him and his crew, but was captured. Interpol
has placed the head of US-based anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd on
an international wanted list at Japan's request, authorities in Tokyo said. The
Japan Coastguard was informed by Interpol about the listing of Canadian Paul
Watson for allegedly conspiring to harass whaling ships in Antarctic clashes in
February, a coastguard spokeswoman said. The coastguard filed the request with
the French-based police service in April as part of Japan's long-running battle
with militant environmentalists from Watson's Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
Kyodo News said Japan had asked Interpol to issue a so-called blue notice,
asking national police forces to provide information on Watson's whereabouts and
activities, but not a red notice requesting his arrest. Japanese
cinemas cancel screenings of The Cove 2
more cinemas in Japan have cancelled screenings of "The Cove," an
Oscar winning documentary that shows footage of a dolphin hunt in a Japanese
village. In recent months, protesters with loudspeakers have been shouting
slogans at the Tokyo office of Unplugged, the distributor of "The
Cove," criticising the film as a betrayal of Japanese pride. Unplugged
claim the cancellations at Cinemart in Tokyo and Osaka were triggered by worries
about safety of filmgoers and businesses nearby. The Tokyo cinema where the film
was to open changed its mind after getting angry phone calls and warnings of
protests. Most Japanese have never eaten dolphin meat. But some believe killing
dolphins and whales is part of traditional culinary culture and resent the
interference of outsiders focused on species protection. "The Cove"
was screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival in Oct and at smaller
events in Japan but has not opened to the Japanese public. The Japanese version
blurs the faces of some people on screen to lessen the possibility of trouble.
Unplugged said talks were under way with other cinemas to show the film,
although details weren't released. Hunting
and the election This is the reality of the coming
election in the UK. The bloodsports fanatics have assembled an army of thousands
whose sole mission is to see elected to power politicians who will allow them to
restore in full their barbaric pastimes of hunting foxes, red deer, hares and
aquatic mammals with packs of dogs. Important issues such as health, education,
employment and foreign policy are irrelevant to them. All they want is to see
killing for fun restored to the UK countryside. The 2004 Hunting Act proved that
humane hunting can thrive without animals being hunted and killed but hard core
hunters are determined to return to their old pastimes of encouraging dogs to
rip animals apart. Please don't make the mistake of regarding this as a UK
problem that will not affect the rest of the world. The next UK government will
be a major player on the world stage, particularly in environmental terms, and
yet the UK risks being saddled with a government addicted to killing animals for
entertainment. Do you think such a government would give much concern to issues
of compassion or even common sense? Remember foxhunters built homes for foxes to
breed in, put out food for foxes and then damned them as "pests". This
is illogical and yet this doctrine will be at the heart of a government led by
David Cameron. UK hunters are confident that by a mixture of intimidation,
threats and violence and media compliance they can force to power the
politicians they want. Even though it looks bad now for the compassionate side
it is not a done deal. If we can but harness the power of the animal welfare
movement we can yet match and beat our opponents. I appreciate that many have no
time for politicians but think of the quote that we all use so often: "All
that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing". If we do
nothing UK hunters will gain a government with contempt for wildlife and that
will be a disaster for the natural world. Remember the 1970s in England? The
otter was being hunted to the brink of extinction yet hunters were pleading for
help to kill otters just to show there were still otters about. And hunt-loving
MPs were promising to block any legislation aimed at giving protection to the
otter. Mercifully the hunters failed that time. The otter was protected and has
returned to UK waters. But the ignorant, cruel and bigoted hunt loving
politicians have also returned in number. Unless we act resolutely now they will
be in power in 6 months time and what then for our wildlife?
Please consider one, more or all of the following as your New Years
resolutions:- Please support compassionate and caring politicians and oppose
those the hunters support. Please make your views known through letters and
e-mails to politicians, the media and to your friends and colleagues. Please
support the League Against Cruel Sports "Keep Cruelty History"
campaign. Visit: www.keepcrueltyhistory.com
Please support the Hunt Saboteurs Association. Visit: www.huntsabs.org.uk
Finally, please vote. It doesn't take much effort. Don't make the mistake of not
bothering. Every single vote can make a real difference. You have to be in it
for our wildlife to win it! The hunters will certainly be bothered. They will do
just about anything, endure any hardship to see their sordid and brutal pastimes
restored. We need to match them. If you need extra motivation think of the
heavily pregnant red deer hind forced to flee for hours before the pack of dogs
for what? Just to entertain a callous minority who could gain their fun by
having their hounds chase a scented rag but simply choose not to. In fact UK
hunters seem to have some weird obsession with tormenting and killing pregnant
animals. The foxhunting season was scheduled so that heavily pregnant vixens
were hunted and killed, and there have been sickening sights of hunt terriermen
gleefully cutting out and counting the foetuses from their victims. And what
about hare coursing? Female hares were coursed and killed both when they were
nursing leverets and when they had virtually full-term foetuses in their bodies.
And they called it sport?? Please, do whatever you lawfully can to keep this
brutal hunting mob out of power in the UK. If you have heard little of the
Animal Cruelty Investigation Group before and are wondering what we are about
please take a look at our web site. We have been in existence since 1989 and I
personally have been working for animal welfare since 1971. My book, Outfoxed,
that reveals the cruelty inherent in bloodsports can be found on Google book
search. Happy New Year and lets together make 2010 a year of success for
animals, the environment and the real issues of our time. Kindest regards, Mike Huskisson David
Cameron's closest friends and relatives spearheaded
a campaign to overturn the ban on fox-hunting. William Astor, stepfather of the
Tory leader's wife Samantha, and his close friend and fellow MP Ed Vaizey called
for hunting to be legalised immediately if the Tories win the next General
Election. Viscount Astor, chairman of the Old Berkshire Hunt, and Wantage MP Mr
Vaizey demanded the repeal of the ban at the Boxing Day hunt at Faringdon, near
Mr Cameron's country home in Oxfordshire. Their calls to axe the ban on hunting
with hounds are supported by Conservative Party headquarters. Mr Cameron says he
believes the ban "doesn't work" and "doesn't make sense".
Mirror 27th
Dec David
Cameron had to leave by the back door on a visit to Stroud on 4th Jan. Cameron,
whose car sped away at speed, was greeted by anti-bloodsports campaigners and a
wonderful big fox photo. The local ITV regional news featured the demonstration
and people were shown with 'no return to bloodsports' posters. These were
clearly visible in the news report. Protesters went along at short notice.
Cameron is going to face these kinds of demonstrations all the way up until
polling day and the Tory brand will be synonymous with bloodsports in the minds
of a great many people! On
Boxing Day Labour launched a hard-hitting campaign
against David Cameron's proposal to repeal the ban on
hunting with dogs. Ministers will point to Mr Cameron's record of supporting
fox-hunting and condemn his proposal to give MPs the chance to overturn the
Hunting Act if he becomes Prime Minister. Writing in The Independent, the
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn says: "Quite why this is something that
would be a priority for a Tory government, instead of the economy or tackling
other concerns, is hard to explain to the public and the Conservatives have
failed to do so." Mr Benn explained: "David Cameron used to hunt
foxes. He talked about fox-hunting in his first speech to Parliament, and he has
said that if he becomes Prime Minister he will get rid of the fox-hunting ban.
But like the vast majority of people, I think the barbaric act of letting dogs
tear foxes to pieces should not return to our countryside. If you think the
Tories have changed, their views on fox-hunting with dogs make it absolutely
clear that their priorities haven't." One senior
Labour source said: "We are not saying hunting will be the centrepiece of
our election campaign. But it is an issue that concerns many people and it says
something about the Conservatives. They say 'we are all in it together' but
their policies, whether on inheritance tax or hunting, show that under a Cameron
government there would be one rule for their friends and another for the rest of
us." When Labour's focus groups remind voters of the Tories' stance on
hunting, many people are said to reply: "I guess they haven't
changed." People are surprised that Mr Cameron wants to overturn the ban,
and Labour believes the policy undermines his claim to have modernised the
Conservative Party. The "back the ban" campaign was endorsed by the
television presenter Tony Robinson and actors Patrick Stewart and Jenny
Seagrove. Its survey of parliamentary candidates found that 84% of Tories who
responded did not support prohibition of hunting with dogs, but 98% of Labour
candidates did. The emotive campaign will challenge Tory parliamentary
candidates to make public their positions on hunting. Labour activists and
hunting opponents will be told: "Find out what your MP and candidates think
about allowing foxes to be ripped apart by the teeth of hounds." Amid signs
that the Tories are playing down the issue, their candidates are said to have
been advised not to state their view on hunting but to promise to consult their
constituents before deciding how to vote. The Tory manifesto will promise a free
vote on a government rather than a private member's Bill, a move which
guarantees parliamentary time and would make it harder for opponents to block.
If the Tories win an overall majority, the Commons is expected to overturn the
ban. 6 foxhounds from the Beaufort Hunt were killed after being hit by a train on New Year’s Day. The accident happened near Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, at about 3.15pm. Captain Ian Farquhar, joint master of the hunt, said:… "It was a good scent day and we presume, because we don't know exactly what happened, that the hounds got a scent of a fox when they were running the trail and ran off towards the unfenced rail line where they were hit by a train. (what were they doing laying a trail near the line?) I have been doing this for 37years and it is the first time I have seen an accident like this. (It’s happened on other hunts) He said the hunt would investigate what had happened and wanted to contact the train driver, as he understood it must have been distressing.. The train was the 3.02pm First Great Western service from Bristol Parkway to London Paddington. Passenger Josh Farrington, from Cowbridge, near Cardiff, said he heard a grinding sound coming from beneath the train about 15minutes after leaving Bristol. "The train slowed down very quickly. We were in the middle of nowhere. A call came over the tannoy for the train manager and then there was an announcement that the train had been involved in an incident involving about 20 dogs. "They checked that the driver was OK to carry on and then the train moved off again after about 20 minutes." A spokeswoman for Network Rail said the line had been closed for about 30 minutes. Western Daily Press 1st Jan Hunt
havoc reports Hounds tore through Rebekah Gardens in Droitwich, Worcester over the weekend. Resident Campbell Deaswas outside taking down the Christmas lights when he saw a fox running down the street. 'About 30 seconds later a whole pack of baying hounds came charging after it. I didn't see where the fox went but the hounds were running through people's front and back gardens looking for it. 'Some of the dogs managed to get over a 6ft fence at the end of the road before a man came along and attempted to round them up. 'He was shouting and yelling trying to get them all together which just added to the chaos of the whole situation. 'He didn't offer any apologies to the residents. He was just bothered about getting the hounds under control. 'The other residents in the street were in shock. There are a lot of youngsters living around here. 'Had it not been so cold there would have been lots of kids out in the street playing with their new toys. 'Why were they chasing the fox in the first place? It is supposed to be illegal.' Another neighbour said: 'A young mum was walking with her little boy in a pushchair when the dogs came haring round the corner straight for her. 'Luckily she managed to push the chair out of their way. It was terrifying to watch.' The hounds were part of the Worcestershire Hunt who were out on a training run. David Palmer, joint master of the Worcestershire Hunt, said: 'The ground was too icy for the horses so we laid a trail and went out on foot. 'A real fox then came running past and the hounds went after it. We managed to stop them as soon as we could and the fox got away. It was just a bit of exercise that went slightly wrong.' Louise Robertson, spokeswoman for the League Against Cruel Sports, said: 'We have reports all the time about hunts getting out of control in this way. Mail 6th Jan A
couple have accused the North
Cotswold Hunt of
letting their hounds “run riot” in their garden. Alex and Pam Peters were at
their Little Buckland home when they discovered about 10 hounds had come through
a fence into their back garden. Mrs Peters said she ran to retrieve their pet
dalmatian Suki while the dogs trampled a vegetable patch, knocked over plant
pots, disturbed a wildlife area and ran through a plot where she had laid the
ashes of her parents. The 65-year-old said she feared what might have happened
had her 2-year-old grandson and 10-year-old granddaughter been playing in the
garden at the time. “The hounds were going absolutely berserk,” she said.
“It’s an awful sight to see. “There’s just no consideration for
other people.” Mrs Peters said
Suki would have to be kept out of the garden until the fence was repaired and
that the couple had written to the hunt and reported the incident to police. A
spokesman from West Mercia Police confirmed they were aware of the incident.
Major Nigel Peel, joint Master of North Cotswold Hunt, told the Journal: “I
was not aware that there had been an incident or a complaint. “When I know the
nature of it we will, of course, visit the people and put everything right.
Meanwhile, I unreservedly apologise.” Rampaging
dogs caused chaos as
they chased a fox across a popular beauty spot. Barlow Common Nature Reserve's
Rachel Stanhope was "horrified" to witness baying hounds in pursuit
towards the wildlife centre soon after leaving a group of animal-loving
youngsters. She immediately ran to mounted hunters to urge them to call the pack
off as shocked families watched from a nearby car park. "I felt this was
unacceptable. I had just been with a party of children from Selby Watch Group
– the junior arm of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust – for a Christmas party and
tree planting when I heard a commotion. "I heard dogs yelping and the noise
became louder and louder. When the hounds came in sight, I saw a fox running
towards the centre pursued by them. "I couldn't believe it. This is
supposed to be a sanctuary for wildlife," stormed Selby District Council's
countryside officer. "I shouted to huntsmen in a nearby field to call the
dogs off and clear off the reserve. They claimed they weren't hunting and, when
I said I'd seen dogs chasing the fox, they said this was public land. It's owned
by SDC." Police were scrambled to the scene. Local authority environmental
health officers, now investigating the incident, will send a strongly-worded
complaint to organisers now the hunt responsible has been identified. A
distressed pensioner, who lives in the village, blasted: "We're fortunate
to have the reserve at our disposal and it's with sadness, not to say anger, we
see this tranquil facility for wildlife, young families and dog walkers so
cruelly abused by the hunting fraternity. Putting the rights and wrongs of fox
hunting aside, why should several horses and a 40 to 50-strong pack of large
dogs be able to crash through such a beautiful family facility, frightening
babies, toddlers and dog walkers with impunity? "There are notices telling
people to keep their dogs on leads and not to ride horses there. It's a disgrace
and a fiasco." Countryside Alliance regional director Steve Clark confirmed
hounds responsible for breaking through onto the reserve were from the Bramham
and Badsworth Hunt. Speaking on their behalf, he said: "I had a long talk
with them and they expressed regret for what happened. "They were hunting
with a trail and, at some time during that, a fox popped up and the hounds got
away. The hounds got through the fence of the reserve. "Unfortunately, it
took the huntsmen 5-10 minutes to stop them. They made every effort to restrain
them. They're very sorry for any distress caused. "They apologise for what
happened. The hounds were eventually stopped and the fox escaped. This is one of
those regrettable incidents. "From the warden's point of view, this was
very distressing but fortunately it was over in 10 minutes. This was
accidental." Newly released video of the totally disgraceful state of affairs on the Isle of Wight as police do nothing to stop illegal interference with a badger sett and contraventions of the Hunting Act. A national scandal is taking place on the Isle of Wight in regards to illegal hunting. I believe the hunt master is a judge. Says it all! www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOEIhH4nZzA&feature=sub Covert
filming could be illegal A judge cast doubt on the
legality of covert filming by anti-hunt activists. The ruling, in a case that
cannot yet be reported, lays down that covert surveillance by third parties must
be authorised in line with procedures in the Regulation of Investigating Powers
Act (Ripa). The Home Office says that the Act must be used in accordance with
the European Convention on Human Rights. “It also requires, in particular,
those authorising the use of covert techniques to give proper consideration to
whether their use is necessary and proportionate,” official guidance states.
This suggests that the type of speculative surveillance carried out by some
organisations and hunt monitors cannot be authorised because it is not necessary
or proportionate for the prevention or detection of an offence under the Hunting
Act. The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) is so anxious that forces
may be acting unlawfully that it has asked for advice from the Crown Prosecution
Service. Richard Crompton, Chief Constable of Lincolnshire and Acpo’s
spokesman on rural affairs, said that until the prosecutors’ guidance had been
received, police would continue to accept information from members of the public
and third parties if they believed that the Hunting Act had been broken. Simon
Hart, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, however, has written to all
chief constables to notify them about the court ruling. He said: “It means
that police forces are regularly being presented with evidence unlawfully
gathered without authorisation under Ripa. Most examples of covert surveillance
we are aware of in relation to hunting could never be authorised whoever was
carrying it out as the surveillance was in no way proportionate to what it
sought to achieve.” Times 26th Dec
Probably a hunting judge and we’ll see how far this ruling gets since
the case can’t be reported yet the ruling can???? The Charity Commission has banned a "keep cruelty history" newspaper advertisement planned by the League Against Cruel Sports, which opposes the repeal of the Act. According to Whitehall sources, the commission ruled that the advertisement – which highlighted the words "cruel Tory" in blue type – would have breached charity rules that ban party political campaigns. Flint
& Denbigh Boxing Day Demo This year the Mayor was not part of the hunt ceremony and instead stood with us to have his picture taken. For once the fox had a say in this years Boxing day parade. We would have had more support, but many people who promised to attend stayed away for fear of reprisals by hunt supporters. Having said that - there were plenty of people in agreement with us. Only a handful took leaflets and deliberately screwed them up throwing them back at us. One elderly hunt supporter stood stony faced and very slowly tore one of our leaflets up in front of us to make a point. It took guts for us to stand in the midst of hunt supporters and even more guts to speak out openly through a megaphone about hunt cruelty. It felt we were a bit like David and Goliath, but I'm a firm believer that good will always overcome evil in the end, so it was worth being intimidated by the odd huntsman. Judi (Hewitt) The traditional Boxing Day hunts went ahead as normal in Chard, llrninster and Crewkerne. Large crowds gathered in the town centres for the annual festivities of the Cotley Hunt in Chard, the Seavington Hunt in Crewkerne and the Taunton Vale Hunt in Ilminster. There was a small and peaceful protest staged by anti-hunt campaigners as the Cotley Hunt prepared to move off. Labour's parliamentary candidate for Yeovil, Lee Skevington, joined the Protect Our Wild Animals group during the protest. Huntsman
cleared of assault on monitors A hunt master has been
cleared of assaulting 2 campaigners who were trying to film his activities from
bushes. Gary Watchman, joint master of the S. Durham Hunt, demanded that 2
camouflage-clad women “get off private land” when they attracted the
attention of hounds in Sedgefield on
Feb 28. Bishop Auckland Magistrates’
Court found him not guilty of hitting League Against Cruel Sports protestors Lyn
Edwards and Hazel Greaves with a riding crop. They hid near the Castle Eden
Walkway to film the hunt. The court was told that when Mr Watchman discovered
the pair, he became angry and said they were trespassing. He admitted his anger
with campaigners who repeatedly “crop up” at his farm, in Bradbury, and
while he is out hunting. He said: “I did not use foul language. I was annoyed
because of the length of time these people have been pursuing us.” Derek
Walton, prosecuting, said there was “no love lost” between the trio, but
that the women were on public land. Both women said he hit them with a riding
crop and barged into Mrs Edwards. They also said he tried to take equipment. Mrs
Edwards said: “He was shouting loudly, I did not know what he would do.” Mrs
Greaves said: “He was coming through the trees like a raging bull.” Stephen
Welford, defending, said Mrs Edwards had “walked into Mr Watchman”. He said
the pair pushed for an assault prosecution after failing to uncover illegal
activities, and added: “They dislike what they (hunters) stand for. They
dislike what they do. These are 2 people who cannot get what they want, so they
have manufactured something.” The bench acquitted Mr Watchman of both charges.
Chairman Glynn Wales said: “If you had known where the land boundaries were,
this whole thing would never have arisen.” Speaking after the trial, S. Durham
Hunt chairman John Littlefair said: “It is a shame an innocent person has had
to wait 9 months to be found not guilty of these allegations.”
Typical biased result European
Court of Human Rights judgement Ban on hunting with hounds;
complaints rejected. The first
application was lodged by Brian Leonard Friend, a British national who was born
in 1939 and lives in Axminster. The second application was lodged by the
Countryside Alliance, a non-governmental organisation and 10 other applicants.
The applicants claim to have been affected negatively by various bans on fox
hunting and the hunting of other wild mammals with dogs in the UK. In addition,
the first applicant brought an unsuccessful petition seeking judicial review of
the Scottish Protection of Wild Mammals Act 2002.The
applications were lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 23 April
2006 and 28 May 2008, respectively. The
Court found that the hunt ban did not affect negatively the applicants’ right
to private and family life. In particular, the Court held that not every
activity a person might seek to engage in together with others was protected
under that Article. Hunting was, by its very nature, an essentially public
activity, and there was no case law of the Court which suggested that the
right to private life extended to public activities. Further, the
hunting community could not be regarded as ethnic or national minority, nor did
it represent a particular lifestyle which was indispensable for a person’s
identity. In addition, the concept of home did not include land over
which the owners practised or allowed sport to be practised. No evidence had
been provided that some of the applicants would indeed lose their homes as a
result of the bans. Last but
not least, the hunting bans had not created serious difficulties for earning
one’s living, and therefore the Court rejected the applicants’ complaints
under this Article. The Court noted that the hunting bans in Scotland, England
and Wales did not prevent or restrict the first applicant’s right to assemble
with other huntsmen as he remained free to engage in many alternatives to
hunting such as drag or trail hunting, which did not involve live quarry. The
bans had been designed to eliminate the hunting and killing of animals for sport
in a manner causing suffering and being morally objectionable. The
bans had been introduced after extensive debate by the democratically elected
representatives of the State on the social and ethical issues raised by that
type of hunting. The Court therefore rejected the applicants’ complaints under
this Article. The Court recalled the extensive public debate which had preceded
the 2004 Act. It did not find arbitrary or unreasonable the absence of
compensation for the adverse financial impact of the bans on those whose
businesses depended on hunting, given in particular that people had continued to
gather for hunts, albeit without live quarry, even after the passage of the Act.
Accordingly, the Court rejected also the complaints under this Article. The
Court rejected the complaints of the applicants under the other Articles. Help
ban gamebird breeding cages A
draft Code of Practice on the Welfare of Gamebirds Reared for Sporting Purposes
has been published by the Gamebird Working Group, which was established under
the 2006 Animal Welfare Act. The Working Group looked at a broad range of issues
relating to game bird production, including diet, veterinary care,
transportation and housing. The draft Code is open to public consultation, which
ends on 18 January 2010. We would like as
many people as possible to write to DEFRA, calling for a ban on the use of
battery cages and of devices that restrain and restrict the vision of birds
during their breeding and growing cycle. 1) On the issue of battery cages for
breeding birds, the draft Code offers 3 options for public consultation – to
keep the cage system as it stands, to allow 'enriched' cages, or to ban the
cages outright. Please call for an outright ban on the cages. 2) Another
especially contentious area is the industry's routine use of various restraint
and vision-limiting devices on birds as they pass from cages to sheds and
finally to the large pens, in which they are held prior to release for shooting.
Apart from calling for a ban on the nasal septum-piercing bits, the draft Code
fails to set out clear restrictions. Typically, it urges that the devices should
not be 'generally' or 'routinely' used. Please call for an outright ban on all
restraint and vision-limiting devices. 3) You may also wish to leave additional
comments on the rest of the Code. Please
send a concise and polite response to: Animalwelfareconsultations@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Or by post: Phil Alder, Defra, Animal Welfare Act Implementation Team, Area 8B,
9 Millbank, c/o 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR. Or by fax: 020 7238 6009 clearly stating the name of the
consultation and addressed to the Animal Welfare Team. The freezing conditions have led to a temporary ban on the shooting of wildfowl in Scotland. Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham has announced that the shooting of certain species will be prohibited. The Scottish government has enforced a law which protects birds in severe weather. The British Association for Shooting and Conservation said it was the first suspension of its kind for 13 years. Scottish Natural Heritage advised the government that species such as ducks, geese and shore waders were unable to feed in the current freezing conditions, threatening the birds' natural survival. The suspension, brought into force under Section 2 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, prohibits the shooting of birds from 5 January. It could last for 14 days but will be reviewed after 7 days. Birds covered by the order include coot, tufted duck, gadwall, goldeneye, Canada geese, greylag and pink-footed goose, mallard, moorhen, pintail, golden plover, pochard, shoveler, common snipe, teal, wigeon and woodcock. Thousands of lions face slaughter in S. Africa under new rules, backed by animal rights groups, that would lead to the abolition of a lucrative hunting practice, according to game parks. An attempt to regulate the hunting of lions bred in captivity and released as prey would force parks to cull animals, it is claimed. Lions are reared for clients who pay as much as £20,000 to hunt them. The S. African authorities have come under pressure to outlaw so-called “canned hunting” and have put forward a measure stipulating that lions must roam freely for 2 years before they can be targeted. Breeders have fought the new regulations, claiming that they would be driven out of business. A court action brought by breeders failed and they were denied leave to appeal. They have now asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether the measure violates constitutional protections of private property. Carel van Heerden, the chairman of the S. African Predator Breeders’ Association, said that if judges decided not to hear the case, “it will be the end of the road for us”. “It will be a devastating effect on our members, it will be a sad day for S. Africa. It will take away the economic value of every lion,” he added. The association’s members own around 4,300 lions, each of which costs about £800 a month to feed. “They will have to kill them,” said Mr van Heerden. “It’s going to be a slaughter. “If you have to make a decision whether you are going to have to feed those lions and you are not going to get any income from that you are going to have no alternative but to kill them, which is very sad. We don’t breed lions to kill them, we breed them to hunt them.” Lionesses fetched trophy fees of around £3,000, he said, with males worth as much as £20,000. More than 1,000 government permits are issued annually for the hunting of lions and the export of trophies, mostly to America. Critics claim that the captive lions are inbred and vulnerable to illness. Fiona Miles, a spokesman for Lionsrock, the biggest lion sanctuary in the country, said: “Canned hunting means hunting in a small space where an animal has no chance of escape. People are doing it and satisfying their ego to say they killed a lion. "They don’t particularly care how they shot that animal. The animals are looked at as a completely commercial tool, but these are living beings.” Chris Mercer, the director of the Campaign Against Canned Hunting, dismissed the breeders concerns as “just waffle, kicking up dust”. The Pakistani
government is awarding hunting permits Man
dressed in animal skin shot dead during hunt Bird
hunter shoots self in face with shotgun Another
hunter killed… Wolves
to be hunted again in Sweden Man denies killing hunt
supporter Hunting
& the Tories Nick
Herbert MP’s
former job was a lobbyist for blood sports where he worked for 6 years. Cameron
has made Nick Herbert their spokesman of rural affairs.
He received £24,500 from 7 separate donations, including known critics
of the hunting ban. He made a declaration in the MPs' register of interests 8
days after attacking the hunting ban. On 22 July Herbert announced that it would
be a Tory manifesto commitment to hold a free vote on whether to overturn the
hunting ban. On the same day as the policy was reported in the magazine, Herbert
received the £24,500 from 7 separate donors. They included 3 donations from
advocates of hunting and shooting. Herbert received: • £1,500 from gun seller
and hunting outfitter William and Sons. • £2,000 from Michael Cannon,
grouse-shooting magnate and owner of Wemmergill in County Durham. • £2,000
from Altnaharra estate, a 47,000-acre hunting, fishing and shooting estate in
Sutherland.
The
Tories do not want to make this a high profile issue.
The majority of the public supports the ban. Few are in favour of devoting
months of parliamentary time dismantling a civilised animal welfare measure.
Cameron has said, "My own view is clear. I support the freedom to
hunt." To the millions who rate animal welfare as a prime issue, this is a
vote changing decision. Simon Hart, the Chief Executive of the Countryside
Alliance is the Tory candidate against popular Labour MP Nick Ainger in
Carmarthen. Bringing back the killing in hunting could be the crucial issue
there. David
Cameron confesses: "I
was brought up in the country. I have taken part in a number of rural sports,
including hunting, from time to time, but not for several years," Cameron
said when asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme if he had ever gone hunting
himself. "Personally, I think the hunting ban has been a farce. I don't
think it works. I think it wastes a huge amount of police time. "For
someone who feels passionately that it should be banned, I would just argue that
there are some areas where when you take the criminal law into that area it
makes the law a mess, it makes the law a bit of a farce, and I think the hunting
ban is a good example of that." The
Countryside Alliance has written to Thames Valley and Gloucestershire Police
claiming that
hunt monitors are trying to incite violence.
They have warned their supporters to ‘ride away’ and for the hunts to
lay their trails away from a source
of any trouble – interpret that to mean away from where monitors can see that
the trail is just a false bit of theatre! Of course there’s no mention in the
Horse & Hound article about monitors being harassed and attacked by stewards
employed by hunts. But then they
wouldn’t, would they? Lush
supports hunt sabs The
North West League Against Cruel Sports has
reluctantly decided that it can no longer represent the League Against
Cruel Sports (LACS). Without going into details, we do not feel that they
are the campaign group we joined many years ago. The biggest hindrance will be
the loss of our website (www.nwlacs.co.uk)
for media contacts. We shall shortly be launching a new group to highlight our
campaign work against hunting, shooting and snares here in the North West. In
the meantime we'll be launching a campaign website against the Hoghton Tower
duck shoot (www.unethicaltimes.co.uk) Labour
says it is planning a fresh assault on hunting and shooting
with a
ban on the intensive rearing of game birds, such as pheasants. It also wants to
bring in fresh measures to protect wild animals, including phasing out the use
of snares to catch foxes and rabbits. They
held a shooting fringe at their conference. Sea
Shepherd Conservation Society is
officially returning to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary for it's 6th
Whale Defence Campaign Operation Waltzing Matilda. They are scheduled to
depart in early Dec and intend to shut down illegal whaling in the Antarctic
once and for all. This year, the Steve Irwin will be joined by the fast
interceptor vessel Earthrace. Together these ships and the Sea Shepherd
crew intend to waltz on down to the Southern Ocean with a bedroll full of
tactics and surprises, and intend to do a dangerous but effective dance with the
Japanese whaling fleet to save the lives of as many whales as possible. The Countryside Alliance has
slammed animal rights activists,
who
last week received substantial compensation from police after they were
"wrongfully arrested" while out with the Meynell & S.
Staffordshire Hunt. A lawyer for 11 anti-hunt protestors negotiated an
out-of-court settlement of £38,300 with Derbyshire police over an incident in
Jan 2008. The protestors denied breaking any laws when they were arrested,
handcuffed and held in custody overnight. Deputy Chief Constable Alan Goodwin
last week confirmed the payout, and that the force had agreed to destroy any
protestors' fingerprints, DNA or photographs. He said in a statement: "The
force and individual officers will learn from this mistake." But CA
spokesman Tim Bonner said the protestors' behaviour was in stark contrast to
those arrested wrongfully within the hunting community. "This money comes
out of the public purse - the hunting community doesn't penalise the taxpayer
for mistakes the police make, whereas animal rights activists are in it for what
they can get," he said. Maurice Scott, joint master of the Devon &
Somerset Staghounds, told H&H that claiming for compensation didn't cross
his mind after his arrest 2 years ago, aged 63. "We have a good
relationship with the police, and we have to live with them," he said.
"The hunting community behaves in a completely different way." Mr
Bonner added that the action is bound to have an impact on the way police
officers deal with the disruption of hunting activities. But
a spokesman for Derbyshire police denied the payout would have any impact,
saying: "We will continue to police hunts as and when we can." National
Trust should reveal hunt dates Huntsmen
filmed on deer sanctuary The
parakeet is now fair game under
new rules from Natural England which allow the birds to be shot without a
licence. The ring-necked parakeet was first spotted in the UK 40 years ago and
is now a common sight in London and the S. E., as well as flying as far north as
Scotland. However, the parrot has become a nuisance for fruit growers, raiding
orchards in Surrey, and could even threaten native species such as woodpeckers
and nuthatches. Now Natural England has officially designated the bird as a pest
under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, meaning it is legal to shoot the
bird without a licence. From Jan 1, 2010 it will also be possible to destroy
nests and take eggs as long as there is proof the animal is causing a nuisance.
Other birds added to the list include the monk parakeet from S. America, the
Canada goose and Egyptian goose that can destroy gardens. The addition to the
list does not mean the birds can be shot like pheasant or other game, which come
under different rules about "legal quarry". However it does mean that
if a landowner or any other “authorised person” has good reason to believe
the birds are causing a specific problem, they can be shot without a licence.
Helen Phillips, Chief Exec of Natural England, said there was a vital need to
control exotic species. "Non-native species are a major threat to global
biodiversity and it is important that licences can operate as an effective tool
in helping to tackle the problem," she said. Graham Madge, of the RSPB, was
confident that the new rules would not be abused. "Parakeets have been
causing localised problems to some fruit growers and this will allow them to
control the birds without a licence," he said. With emerald green feathers
and a rose-red beak, the ring-necked parakeet was brought to the UK from India
and was first reported in the wild in 1969. It is unclear how the bird escaped
into the wild, with theories ranging from a pair escaping from a container at
Heathrow airport to the possibility that a number escaped during the making of
the 1951 film the African Queen at Shepperton Studios. The latest estimate puts
numbers at above 20,000, more than native species like kingfishers and
lesser-spotted woodpeckers, with the majority around London and the South East. Anti-shooting
demo - Animal Aid held a demonstration and leafleted
outside the Labour Party Conference in Brighton on
28th Sept. The British
Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) – a pro-shooting lobby group
– held a fringe meeting at the conference. Their guest speaker was the Sports
Minister, Gerry Sutcliffe MP, who was reported last year as saying ‘I do not
support killing birds’. This is at odds with the stated aim of the BASC, which
is ‘to promote and protect sporting shooting and the well-being of the
countryside throughout the UK and overseas. We represent our members' interests
by providing a voice for sporting shooting which includes wildfowling, game, and
rough shooting, deer stalking, target shooting and air gunning, pigeon shooting
and pest control...’ Giant mascot, Phileas the Pheasant, attended the demo
too. The
pheasant season has opened, but
the countryside will be much quieter this year. Commercial shoots - and there
are about 3,000 across the country - are expecting a dearth of guns, especially
from the City. A new analysis from Smiths Gore, the land management consultant,
has found that about 60% of shoots expect to lose income this year. With
bookings 20 to 30% down, many shoots have reduced the number of birds they
intend to release, which cuts the price of a day’s shooting. The cost of a
shoot is calculated by the number of birds. A typical day is based on a bag of
300 or 400 birds, which costs from £10,000 to £20,000. But this year bags are
as low as 150 birds a day, which brings costs down to £5,000, a sum that may be
shared between 7 to 9 shooters. Leading banks and finance houses, which
previously would think nothing of spending £10,000 to £25,000 a day
entertaining clients, are taking no risks being seen squandering cash,
especially if they have been bailed out by the Government. Strictly
Come Dancing’s Brendan Cole has
been captured on camera killing a chicken with a catapult while filming Intrepid
Journey on the Vanuatu islands. He
was seen smiling as he shot the bird during a hunting lesson. Cole, the most
outspoken of the dance partners, is shown cornering the tame bird and stoning it
with a catapult. The scenes, filmed by a New Zealand company for state-owned
TVNZ, is unlikely to impress his dance partner Jo Wood, whose natural skincare
range Jo Wood Organics prides itself on its animal cruelty-free ingredients.
Cole is seen wringing the rooster’s neck, hits it with a stick before asking:
“Is he dead yet?” as it limply hangs from his hands. Britain lodged an official objection to the Icelandic Government’s continued increase in hunting endangered whales. Defra, joined by 25 nations including the US, sent a formal diplomatic protest to Iceland about the illegal hunting, which has killed 125 fin and 79 minke whales this season. Iceland’s outgoing Government last year increased its quota of fin whales from 9 to 150. Expectations that the new Government would reduce this were dashed in June when the quotas of both fin and minke whales were increased to 200 animals a year. The obvious lack of market for the meat means these whales are being killed just to be stored in a freezer for years to come. Opinion polling and independent economic research in Iceland has revealed little appetite for whale meat, while responsible whale watching, by contrast, is financially lucrative and one of the country’s most popular tourist activities, generating almost £5m a year for coastal communities. A
judge has cleared the way for wolf hunting in Idaho and Montana, ruling it would
not irreparably harm wolf populations. Wolf populations have exploded since the
animal's reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park and Idaho – prompting the
Obama administration to remove Rocky Mountain grey wolves from the endangered
species list. The current wolf population in the region – about 1,800 –
exceeds the targets set by scientists in the mid 1990s. But many
conservationists oppose the hunt, citing the wolf's lack of genetic diversity.
While the wolf population does exceed the recovery programme's original goal,
that number was arbitrarily set, largely out of political concerns. "Common
sense tells us," writes Ken Fischman, a contributor to Writers on the
Range, "that a few 100 wolves in each state can't be defended as a
biologically viable population … that the full recovery of these …
populations requires not 100s, but 1,000s of animals." This controversy is
another chapter in the long battle over wolves, the purpose and spirit of the
Endangered Species Act and the very idea of wilderness. In the 19th
century the US government, to protect frontier livestock, sponsored the hunting
of wolves and nearly eradicated them from the lower 48 states. The wolf
population declined to a few 100 animals from an estimated pre-colonial
population of 250,000. But killing off wolves had unforeseen consequences.
Without predators, elk numbers soared, which had devastating consequences on the
local vegetation. The elk suffered then, too, their numbers thinned by disease
and starvation, and the government was forced to actively manage them. Wolf
recovery plans were dogged from the start by political concerns, as ranchers
were riled up by stories of wolves slipping across the border from Canada and
killing livestock, and a plan for reintroduction wasn't accepted until 1995.
Reintroduction only intensified the controversy, especially after Yellowstone
wolves preyed on local livestock. The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone
has already caused positive change in the local ecosystem, as willow and aspen
trees are returning after years of absence. The presence of wolves also benefits
scavengers, such as cougars and grizzly bears. In short, if anything, the
benefits of the wolf to its ecosystem were underestimated. On the other hand,
despite the headlines, wolves are not hurting local livelihoods, as only 2% of
all livestock deaths are down to wolves – and conservation groups and state
governments compensate local ranchers for livestock taken by wolves. How
NOT to bring up your child South
Africa is witnessing a massive surge in rhino poaching,
an activity
blamed on criminal syndicates striving to meet an "insatiable
appetite" for rhinoceros horn in east Asia. 84 rhinos have been killed by
poachers in the country so far this year, a jump from the 13 deaths in 2007.
Kruger Park, a worldwide tourist attraction, has been hardest hit, suffering the
loss of 33 rhinos since January. 19 have been killed in KwaZulu-Natal province,
and some privately owned reserves have lost 7 animals. Conservationists say it
is the biggest spike in poaching for 15 years and blame the smuggling trade
connected to countries, such as China and Vietnam, where rhino horn can fetch
thousands of pounds for its perceived medicinal value. Namibian
seals clubbed to death - Animal
rights activists have released shocking footage of baby seals being clubbed to
death in Namibia. An estimated 80,000 seal pups are clubbed to death each year,
and their fur is sold internationally. The Dutch animal welfare group who shot
the film are hoping to bring the cruelty to the attention of tourists who come
to the country. The
Cove director risks arrest
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The Shoreham Protester, 7 Stoneham Road, Hove, BN3 5HJ, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0)1273 885750. Email: shoreham.protester@ntlworld.com Last Updated 13 December 2008 |
