Food elsewhere is no doubt scarce as the cold weather continues to bite, so there is as much varied bird life in the garden as there ever is. In just the last ten minutes I have seen no fewer than six Jackdaws, a pair of Greenfinches (not seen for a while), a Chaffinch, Robins, Blackbirds, Dunnocks, Blue and Great Tits, a Great Spotted Woodpecker (she curves her tail under the bottom of the feeder), Wood Pigeons … and there are Wrens and House Sparrows around too. They are getting through peanuts at an alarming rate. A great way to start the day.
MBR Acres acquittal
There has been momentous news in the world of animal rights. Four people were arrested and charged for entering the breeding centre MBR Acres (above) where Camp Beagle members have been protesting for years (passim) but will soon in all likelihood not be allowed to, and taking eighteen Beagle puppies to be rehomed. They potentially faced ten-year jail sentences. There were further instances and there are more trials to come. Two of the puppies were intercepted and taken by the police and returned to the facility where, footage shows, dogs are kept in barren cages, the floors covered in their excrement. Incredibly, after a remarkably short trial, the four were acquitted by the jury. This suggests that people are so disgusted and appalled by what goes on in these places that the burglary offences were seen as irrelevant in the broader moral context. It goes to show just how out of touch with the Zeitgeist our MPs are – getting on for two-thirds of them recently voted for the criminalisation even of peaceful protest near such places.
Brian May & Glastonbury
I love music festivals and enjoyed long weekends at WOMAD for a number of years. A reggae festival near Brighton had us almost running from stage to stage such was the panoply of stellar talent to be seen. Glastonbury has never appealed to me though, probably just because it is so huge, so I will not be losing out, but the redoubtable Brian May has again conformed that Queen will not be playing there. The owner of the farm where it takes place, Michael Eavis, is in favour of killing badgers, the travesty and tragedy of the badger cull.
“The longtime animal rights activist, who resigned as the RSPCA’s vice-president in 2024 over “appalling” welfare standards exposed in the charity’s Assured Farm certification scheme, said it was Eavis’s stance on badger culling in particular that he took issue with.”
May has said, “They like killing badgers, and they think it’s for sport,” he claimed, “and that’s something I cannot support because we’ve been trying to save these badgers for years, and they are still being killed for years, so that’s the reason we’re missing out on it.”
Eavis has, absurdly and of course quite wrongly, described May as a “danger to farming”.
Cobalt
I have always been sceptical about electric cars – the pollution and environmental damage is surely just pushed further back up the chain. Arguably, because of the manufacturing process and disposal of the batteries they are worse than petrol cars. We know politicians cannot be trusted on this. It was a Labour government who promoted diesel over petrol. I can’t find a reference to the loathsome, idiotic, hypocritical, violent John Prescott directly being a part of this, although my memory tells me that he was. His absurd, unused bus lane on the M4 on the London approach was bad enough with resulting constant traffic jams for hours on end. It did use to amuse me to think that every day tens of thousands of drivers would be cursing his name as they sat there.
Cobalt blue is a lovely colour but I wonder if my friend who named his company after it is having regrets. The metal, cobalt, is after all a dangerously poisonous substance in all but the smallest quantities, seen not least in the Democratic Republic of Congo whence most of it is extracted. Most of the mines are Chinese owned and in the smaller mines working conditions are atrocious and hazardous to health, often fatally, child labour is used (an estimated 40,000 children, some as young as seven years old, some abducted and trafficked by militias), communities have been evicted and the environment is severely degraded. We are all implicated since cobalt, alongside other metals such as lithium, in which the DRC is also rich, is essential for rechargeable batteries.
The above was inspired by a newspaper review of The Elements of Power: a New Yorker writer uncovers the darker side of the green revolution, William Collins, 2026, by Nicholas Niarchos of the Greek shipping dynasty. It was preceded by Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives, 2023, by Siddarth Kara, 2023.
It is clear that Africa has been and is being colonised and raped all over again.
Orca dialects
The pod of orcas in the Strait of Gibraltar which has gained a certain notoriety for what I am convinced is merely their mischievous and playful damaging of rudders, leaving yachts drifting (see Birds, butterflies, fish, orcas and other mammals, deer, foxes, capitalism gone wrong, Merwin, Blake & Tolkien – Animal Wild), much as I like the idea that they are rogue saboteurs, have now been recorded using what is believed to be a unique dialect. Previously thought to be largely silent to help them hunt in particular Bluefin Tuna, through the use of new acoustic technology, we now know that they communicate differently from others of their species. It is not just a matter of an ‘accent’ but “a separate branch of the linguistic family tree.” Leading marine biologist Renaud de Stephanis has said that this is more like the difference between Arabic and Latin. The group has also exhibited passing fads, such as wearing dead salmon on their heads, or kelp, but like school playground trends, these fizzled out after a while. Guess what? Animals have culture.
Carden International Circus
PETA has renewed its efforts to get this horror show shut down, citing in particular a depressed and apparently very sick elephant called Betty who continues to be brought into the ring even though she can no longer perform the degrading tricks. Bullhooks and other weapons are used of course, although the circus website is full of the usual guff about meeting welfare standards. “The Carden International circus is committed 110% to the exceptional care and ethical treatment of all of our animals. We believe in animal-human relationships that are built upon respect, trust, affection, and absolutely uncompromising care. Our training methods are based on reinforcement in the form of food rewards and words of praise. There is absolutely zero tolerance for verbal or physical abuse or the withholding of food or water from any of our animals. We strongly oppose any form of cruelty or mistreatment to animal large and small.” Yet PETA has page after page of violations and citations for neglect and cruelty. Keeping wild animals captive for entertainment is cruelty and abuse in itself. The website and online images boast of Zebras, Camels, Tigers and even Bison, as well as dogs and horses, goats and cats.
Even in their own promotional video about how well the animals are treated, whilst an employee is stating that only positive reinforcement is used, we can see a miniature horse in the background with a dog on his or her back being forced to trot around in circles under constant use of a whip. They can’t even be bothered to hide it. Are we really expected to believe these words when evidence to the contrary is clearly visible?
Where was this outfit based I wondered, in what Godforsaken, benighted country so miserably behind much of the rest of the world where animals in circuses are no longer permitted? It’s the United States.
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