At HART Wildlife Rescue the busy season has just peaked. Monday was a relatively easy morning with eight volunteers in (six is really the minimum needed, sometimes there are only two) and most of the ducks and geese released or about to be. There are still plenty of hedgehogs though, foxes, fledglings and nestlings and corvids. Incredibly, although we know how intelligent they are, we discovered that the Magpies, not quite ready for release yet, had managed to lock themselves into their aviary by sliding the bolt across the door from the inside. We managed to get it open with a stick. In what was probably an excess of caution, I thought that if they can do that they can open it too, and so, even though there is a double door system, I threaded and twisted a piece of wire through the mesh to doubly secure it.
Various newsletters are in. World Horse Welfare’s reports on a success story, the Dover 26, as the organisation continues to campaign about the illegal export of equines for slaughter. A group of feral ponies has gradually become accustomed to human interaction and a centrefold of statistics for 2023 is impressive: £8m was spent, 334 suffering or vulnerable horses were taken into care, 313 were rehomed, and, especially pleasingly, particularly in the light of the Charlotte Dujardin scandal, 30 recommendations were made to the FEI [the International Equestrian Federation] “to improve welfare as part of the Equine Ethics and Welfare Commission”. I would ban all equestrian ‘sport’, but there have at least been some positive changes. The Grand National has been made safer, and a Charter for the Horse was launched, amongst other measures.
At the wonderful Hillside Animal Sanctuary in Norfolk (where I hope to return for a second visit when I go to that part of the world for a birdwatching trip in a few weeks’ time), there are many tales of heart-warming rescues. Over 250 ducks, bred purely to be shot for ‘fun’, took it upon themselves to remove themselves from the killing fields and take up residence near the Sanctuary where they will be safe. The landowner has now promised not to allow further shoots.
The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust carries an optimistic piece about a gathering pace of interest in regenerative farming and there are reports on efforts to save adders and water voles.
I wrote the following here:
Moths and elephants – Animal Wild
Less dramatically, I have just turned down an invitation to take part in a wildlife survey involving moth and mammal trapping. I do understand the need for moth-trapping for scientific/conservation reasons but it is definitely something in which I would not feel comfortable taking part. Most moths have short lives of just a few days or weeks. Trapping them overnight to be examined over breakfast does not feel right to me. It must be terrifying for them and I think this counting method should only be used as an absolute last resort. There must be other, kinder ways. For all those hours they cannot get on with their short lives – eating, mating, pollinating, being eaten by other wildlife and there must surely be some risk of damaging these delicate creatures? We do know what the problems are and we need information, but we already know the answers. What we need are governments willing to take an interest and actually do something.
I am delighted to say that the organisers have seen sense and cancelled the mammal trapping at least. They seem suddenly to have realised the bleeding obvious – trapped mammals may die from the heat in the traps and so may their young who will not be being fed whilst their parents are in temporary captivity. As I suggested above for the moths, they are now using cameras instead.
There is good news from PETA. Horse-drawn carriages will be banned in Málaga, but not so good is that pope Francis continues to fail to speak out about the torturing of bulls for sport. A protest during the papal General Audience at the Vatican was an attempt to redress this most un-Christian and cowardly silence.
Protect the Wild reminds us that cubbing season is once again under way, the cruelty of which is almost unimaginable. The United Pack was caught red-handed by monitors over the weekend. They also trespassed on a farmer’s land, terrifying sheep and cows with young calves as they did so.
Hunt Saboteurs sadly failed to stop the Quantock Stag Hounds chasing and killing a stag as that season opens again.
Lidl (regarding the welfare of the chickens they sell) and Shell are, disgracefully, threatening to sure and thereby silence Open Cages and Greenpeace respectively. They can of course afford teams of highly remunerated lawyers but I suspect they have underestimated the resilience and determination of the organisations whose views and reports they wish to stifle.
The Badger Trust and Wild Justice have combined forces against Natural England to challenge the legality of the appalling and mendacious backtracking by the new Labour government regarding the badger cull. It was admitted that the cull was ineffective in their manifesto, but at least they are honest about why they have committed this volte-face. There is not even a hint of pretence that it has anything to do with the science (which in fact it flies in the face of) nor the welfare of cattle. It is simply a sop to the farming lobby. Pre-existing licences will continue until at least 2026. Over half our badger population has now been exterminated and yet there has been little or no effect. Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has said that he does not want to “send shocks into the system”, whatever that means, and is clearly just another craven appeaser when it comes to the farming industry.
In conclusion, I quote Immanuel Kant: “We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of his animals.”
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