Wasp stings man

Headlines from yesterday’s The Times:

Wasp stings man

Prickly plants could be over, sharpish

Girl hurt in gull attack

Trail hunt defence (letters page)

I have made up only one of these. It is of course the first one. But the others seem no less ludicrous.

“The days of prickly plants being a thorn in the side of gardeners may be drawing to a close.” A gene editing breakthrough. But why? Wear gloves. Don’t interfere with the evolved genetic makeup of plants which rely on their thorns and prickles for defence and climbing, for example. It is a classic case of seeing and treating evolved nature as the enemy. There will be consequences, I expect, that we haven’t even thought of. There usually are.

“A Swedish girl … whose age is not known” (relevance?) had to be taken to hospital for a probably unnecessary tetanus injection after a seagull took her croissant, cutting her hand in the process. I am not glad it happened, but is this really news? It will just contribute to the hatred many seem to harbour for the birds. There have been several such “attacks” in Lyme Regis, the report continues, with “victims losing cake, ice creams and sausages”. Quelle horreur! They are not entirely unloved as a Facebook group I have recently joined, the Seagull appreciation Society, bears witness.

The trail hunt defence letter is disingenuous to say the least. It is from Olly Hughes, managing director of the British Hound Sports Association and in it he claims that of 228,000 trail hunting days since the Hunting Act came into force, there have been just 23 convictions “meaning that 0.01 per cent have breached the regulations.” Of course it doesn’t mean that at all. Bad enough that there have been over quarter of a million days of mashing up the countryside. What about breaches not witnessed, breaches witnessed but not reported, breaches reported but no action taken? Offenders prosecuted but found not guilty? Compare and contrast with these figures posted by Protect the Wild which relate to just one season:

• 15,180 estimated hunt meets in the 2022/23 season.
• 46% of registered ‘trail hunts’ were caught chasing or killing foxes in the 2022/23 season.
• 92 different deer were chased, and 24 were killed by hunts in the 2022/23 season.
• 2000+ meets of hare hunting packs were recorded in the 2022/23 season.
• 211 instances of hunt violence were perpetrated – 198 minor attacks and 13 major attacks.
• 599 reported traffic offenses, trespasses, road havoc, and non-quarry-based incidents.
• 169 non-quarry incidents, the majority of which related to badger sett interference.
• 343 police vehicles attended hunting activities in the 2022/23 season.
• 1/3 of observed Blackford and Sparkford Vale Hunt days saw a fox chased or killed.