Stop the Badger Cull!

Image Source: Care for the Wild

Tuesday saw the Badger Trust fail at the court of appeal in an attempt to stop the two pilot badger culls in West Gloucestershire and West Somerset.  The Trust say that killing badgers will not make a significant contribution to tackling TB in cattle and claims that it could lead to 40,000 animals being pointlessly killed over the next four years.

The appeal was unanimously rejected by Lord Justice Law, Lord Justice Rimer and Lord Justice Sullivan.

Patricia Hayden, VC of the Badger Trust told The Guardian "We are very disappointed.  We don't know what the next step is, but we will not give up."

The Trust is now deciding whether to take their legal action to the supreme court.

In Wales, a badger vaccination programme is replacing the planned cull which was abandoned following legal challenges and the election of a new political administration.  National Trust in Devon and the Wildlife Trust in Gloucestershire is testing the vaccination programme, this is despite the previous Labour government saying an oral badger vaccine would be ready by 2015 and the coalition cancelling five of the six planned trails and declaring a viable oral vaccine as being "years away".

It was reported in the Guardian on Wednesday that activists are threatening to disrupt the badger cull which is due to start this autumn.  Volunteers are planning to patrol the cull zones and do their utmost to make it impossible for the trial culls to take place.  Other proposals include raves and other music events that will focus attention on the cull thus making it more difficult to carry out.  A national rally against the cull was held in Bristol on Tuesday where animal rights activists turned out in force, animal rights campaigner Brain May (guitarist from Queen) spoke at the rally and said: "I think we are all hoping that David Cameron is looking at the possibility of reorganising and delaying the cull while they look more carefully at vaccination. You could kill all the badgers in Britain and it would not stop the problem of bovine TB in cows." 

The RSPCA, League Against Cruel Sports, Humane Society International/UK, Save Me and a host of local campaign groups have formed #TeamBadger

Please sign this petition and also join the Stop the Cull Facebook Community.  You are also able to quickly e-mail your MP and Tweet David Cameron at the click of a button using!

Brian May and Care for the Wild have set up this e-petition that will just take you a moment to sign please.

Fluffy Friday #58

Imagine finding this little cutie snuggled up in your bed!  This small, unhealthy looking young vixen sneaked into the house and up into the bedroom after the back door was left open, I can't say I blame her!

It makes me think about what might happen to this sweetie when she grows up, I hope she is not a victim of fox hunting.

Read the full article here and check out League Against Cruel Sports campaign against cruelty. 

Happy Friday!

Keep Cruelty History

Source: League Against Cruel Sports

Eight years ago hunting wild animals with dogs for sport was banned.  The process to make it legal again has begun with MP's being asked to vote and pro hunting groups doing everything in their power to bring back this blood sport.  Hence, we need to do EVERYTHING in OUR power to keep the ban.

If you are in the UK please click here, enter your postcode and be taken to a webpage showing your MP and how he or she intends to vote.  Unfortunately my MP wants to repeal the ban which means he wants bloodsports to become legal again.  I have also checked my parents' MP's views and she too wants to repeal the ban.

If your MP also plans on voting to repeal the ban and you wish to contact them to ask that they reconsider their vote, or to applaud them for voting to keep cruelty history, simply enter your name, address and e-mail in the readily prepared form and this will automatically bring up a message for you to quickly send to your MP.  I strongly advise that you personalise the message as much as possible to encourage them to read it, please be polite yet persuasive!  

Please let me know how your MP is planning on voting and please encourage everyone you know to contact their MP and express their views, as well as sharing this on Facebook and Twitter please talk to people in the older generation who may not necessarily use social networking applications.



Thank you.




UPDATE:


A while after typing this post I received a response from my MP stating the following "I am not sure where you have obtained information that a vote or debate is imminent. I have seen press reports but as yet I am not aware of any proposals to bring the issue back before the Commons."  


I forwarded the response to James Dixon at the League (JamesDixon@league.org.uk) who advised me to inform my MP that; 


"The urgency for this campaign is prompted by the Prime Minister’s comments on Countryfile on January 15^th this year in which he said, “I always thought the hunting ban was a pretty bizarre piece of legislation, I think there should be a free vote in the House of Commons.”


I responded to my MP telling him this and also explaining why I think he should decide to keep cruelty history when a vote is inevitably called.

UPDATE on "What's wrong with rodeos?"

Source.

The League Against Cruel Sports have claimed that e-mails to Clarence House are now being blocked.  Supporters have sent around seven thousand e-mails (well done us!) to William and Kate's representatives asking them to boycott the Calgary Stampede but e-mails started bouncing back on Thursday, unfortunately.

Steve Taylor, head of campaigns at the League has quite rightly said "Burying their head in the sand won't make this issue go away. British people don't want their representatives going to see cruel rodeo events any more than they want them going to a dog fight in Afghanistan, a cock fight in the Philippines, or a public beheading in Saudi Arabia. The cruelty has become the elephant in the room and it's rather rude to block communications rather than respond to the issue."

The League are now considering how to work around this, another option is encouraging supporters to telephone Clarence House expressing their revulsion.  The League have been working closely with the Vancouver Humane Society to highlight this issue.

Alternative?

The Humane Society in Vancouver's are asking their supporters to make a comment on the Clarence House website by clicking here which is a good idea, if you do make a comment please keep it polite and remember to tell your friends!  Thank you.

Read the full article from the League here.

Read the League’s Open Letter to William and Kate here.

Don't mention the F word

There is currently a very disturbing story in the news about an alleged fox attack on two nine month old twins in Hackney. It is a very unfortunate and upsetting incident for all concerned. Obviously I sincerely hope the little girls make a full and speedy recovery and the family as a whole can move on from this awful occurrence.

As I suspected when I first heard the story there is now something of a backlash against foxes. I have read various statements from experts and concluded that shocking incidents like this are incredibly rare and that actually foxes are shy animals. I hate to say this but I suspect the media have wildly exaggerated the story for sensationalism, the screaming headlines are now even mentioning a cull which in my opinion is not at all necessary.

Here are some of the more interesting articles:

Telegraph

Would fox hunting have stopped such an attack?

League Against Cruel Sports Blog

What do the wildlife experts say?

What do the general public think

Pledge to Support The Ban!

Image from Google.

(I'm sorry to jump on the bandwagon and talk politics, after reading some comments made by the Countryside Alliance last night I just couldn't resist)

I felt a growing sense of unease last night as I watched Gordon Brown leave Downing Street and David Cameron enter. I went straight online to see what this might mean for the Fox Hunting Ban. It seems that the Countryside Alliance are prematurely declaring victory. The Government are focusing on pressing issues like reducing the deficit but soon enough attention will turn to the Fox Hunting Ban.

I have signed up to The League Against Cruel Sports and Animal Aid's Campaign for Decency and depending on developments I am considering becoming a member of The League and definitely will be joining protests.

[More info to follow as and when]

Will you please join me in pledging to support the ban?

The League Against Cruel Sports

Campaign for Decency

What will a Hung Parliament mean for the Hunting Ban?

...I honestly don't know and I don't think anyone does just yet. I used my vote for the foxes yesterday. I voted Labour in the General Election. As I stood in line to vote I thought about the three baby foxes that once sunbathed on the roof of our garden shed without a care in the world and wonder if they grew up and found themselves being chased and savaged all in the name of sport. I started to panic when the exit poll showed a hung parliament outcome and it has now been confirmed that this is in fact the case, the Conservatives have the most seats, followed by Labour and the Liberal Democrats. According to Support the Hunting Act (Ban) UK, the Hunting Ban situation will come down to who forms the Government but unfortunately some animal welfare MPs lost their seats last night which is a great blow.

If the worst case scenario does happen and the Ban is repealed I am going to contact the League Against Cruel Sports to see if there is any possibility of joining them in any action they may be taking in retaliation.

Do you know who you're voting for?

It seems impossible not to think or talk about the upcoming General Election, I listen to Radio 4 at work every day and as I type this I am listening to Gordon Brown answering questions from the general pubic on subjects like fuel prices, public services, tax etc. I haven't decided who to vote for yet but I just can't bring myself to vote for a party that will lift the current ban on hunting.

I regularly write to my very nice MP (who happens to be Conservative) about animal related issues and wrote to her recently about the Hunting Act. As I expected she echoed the Conservative policy that if they were to win the General Election they want to lift the current ban despite 75% of the public disagreeing with this and wanting the Hunting Act in force. I do agree that the ban is very difficult and sometimes impossible to enforce, however, this doesn't mean that a ban won't work and organisations such as The League Against Cruel Sports work tirelessly gathering evidence on those who flout the ban to ensure this is upheld.

Before you decide who to vote for this May please take into account your candidates policies and find out what their views on hunting and animal welfare are as well as how they will make things better for you. Find your candidate here.

Information from League Against Cruel Sports

Please have a look at the RSPCA's website which outlines animal welfare issues they hope to see the next parliament work on.

Hello world!

My name is Helen and for quite some time now I have been contemplating creating a blog with a view to helping animals. Right now, I know very little about creating a blog so I am going to learn as I go along ~ please be patient!

"But how can a blog actually help animals?" 

I hear you cry.  Well, that all depends on you - here's how;

Every week I am inundated with e-mails from organisations such as the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), The League Against Cruel Sports, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) to name but a few. They tell me what is going on in the world with respect to animals and ask me to do things like write to my MP and ask them to consider supporting the Fox Hunting Ban, or sign a petition asking the Canadian Prime Minister to consider abolishing the Seal Cull. I happily follow the link they provide, fill in my details then click on send hoping that the few minutes I have spent will actually make a difference.  The thing is, I want to do more. At the moment the only thing I can think of doing to help that doesn't involve travelling to Canada and throwing myself in front of a Seal Hunter (I have every intention of actually doing this if the Seal Cull continues) is to try and convince more people to join me in sparing a few minutes helping animals. 

I sometimes have e-mails asking me to donate to causes but unfortunately I can't afford to do this as much as I'd like to, this blog isn't for the purpose of asking you to donate either.

How do I know I make a difference? 

I don't think I make much of a difference alone, but I do think that a lot of people doing something whether it be signing a petition or writing a letter can make a big difference.  An example is something that happened recently, PETA sent out an e-mail to ask for help with stopping the construction of a proposed large-scale intensive dairy farm (battery farm for cows) in which 8,000 cows would be subjected to cruel conditions, confined to tiny stalls without access to grass or sunshine and at risk of disease.  I was asked to write to the Planning Office voicing my opposition.  PETA provided what to write and gave me all relevant links, all I needed to do was add my name and e-mail address and click send.  I happily did this and so did many, many others.  A few days later I received an e-mail from the Planning Office thanking me for my comments and informing me that the planning permission request for the intensive dairy farm has been withdrawn!  All because so many of us gave the animals a voice.  

In order to try and make this blog as interesting as possible I am also going to post lots of animal related news, pictures and stories. It would be lovely if you could keep reading and tell your friends as well, animals all over the world need our help and even the smallest thing can make a difference. I can't do this on my own and would really, really value your support.

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” ~ Mahatma Gandhi