Animal groups take snare-ban call to Scottish Parliament
Advocates for Animals and other animal protectionists are calling on the Scottish Parliament to set an example in the UK by banning snares. Snares are indiscriminate killing devices and trap companion animals such as cats, wild animals including foxes, deer, birds, and many other species. Animals often suffer severely for days on end before they are found. Many die an agonising death.
The call for a ban is backed by politicians from a range of political parties. Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) Christine Grahame, SNP, the convener of Holyrood's cross party group on animal welfare said: "The practice is absolutely barbaric and has no place in the 21st century."
Animals Count hopes that Scotland will indeed ban these medieval torture products and that the rest of the UK will follow suit. It is unbelievable that snares are still used in a 'civilised' country such as Britain today. Many other European countries have banned the use of snares many years ago.
18 January, 2008 
Interpretation of Hunting Act not clear to judge
Tony Wright, 53, who was found guilty of hunting with hounds under the Hunting Act last year while leading a hunt on Exmoor won an appeal at Exeter crown court yesterday. The judge seemed to have difficulty interpreting the Hunting Act.
The Guardian reports that Wright, professional huntsman with Exmoor Foxhounds, had argued that he was following an exemption that allows hunts to flush out foxes to guns. Naively, the judge seems to have taken Wright's arguments at face value.
Says Douglas Batchelor, chief executive of the League: 'there will be more prosecutions if the hunting fraternity believes that the decision to overturn the conviction of Tony Wright, is a red light for them to ignore the law.'
Acts are to be enforced and Animals Count believes the police and the government do not take the enforcement of the Hunting Act seriously. Those who flout the law will have to pay the price!
Further information: Read a disturbing account in Worcester news: 'Grandson watched as hounds ripped fox apart'. Hunt masters always argue their hounds are out of control and that it is an 'accident'. A spokesman for Protect our Wild Animals said 'This is not acceptable and there needs to be a tightening of the law.'
1 December, 2007
Law Lords rule hunting ban is 'lawful'
Animals Count is very pleased with the ruling on Wednesday that the House of Lords has dismissed appeals by the Countryside Alliance and other hunting supporters who argued the hunting ban breaches Human Rights and European law. Obviously an Act that has passed Parliament is very unlikely to contradict other European Law.
The Times reported that 'Lord Bingham said that the purpose of article 8, the right to respect for private and family life, his home and correspondence, was to protect the individual against intrusion by state agents, unless for good reason, into the private sphere where individuals expected to be left alone to conduct their personal affairs and live their personal lives as they chose.'
Lord Bingham continued to say 'The democratic process is liable to be subverted if, on a question of moral and political judgment, opponents of the Act achieve through the courts what they could not achieve in Parliament.'
All hunting is cruel but in particular hunting with hounds, and there is no excuse such as 'respect for private and family life' to continue hunting.
30 November, 2007
Animals Count concerned over DEFRA culling policies
3 November 2007
Our letter to Secretary of State Hilary Benn MP: (Read DEFRA's response here)
During the past couple of weeks newspapers were filled with articles and letters from concerned citizens regarding the proposed badger cull. Sir David King’s proposal to cull tens of thousands of badgers in areas where bovine TB is prevalent is unscientific and unnecessarily expensive.
Some people have proposed to make the cull area as large as possible, which is not only unethical as badgers became an officially protected species with the Protection of Badgers Act in 1992; it would not even contribute to elimination of bovine TB. Although the transmission of disease may potentially decrease by driving the English badger close to extinction, the bovine reservoir of TB will remain as long as no better (currently available) testing regimes are in place. Sir David King seeks to fight the symptoms without addressing the cause; that is lack of proper care and monitoring of cattle, which suffer and die needlessly.
We have seen enough killing over the past four months which included TB in Shambo and other important animals for the Hindu community, the thousands of animals killed during the FMD and Bluetongue outbreaks, and the killing of thousands of Ruddy ducks because they supposedly mate with the White headed duck in Spain.
Animals Count is extremely concerned about these culling policies that seem to lack any consideration for the individual animals involved. The government ought to take animal protection seriously and not cull domesticated and wild animals by the hundreds of thousands on the basis of little or no scientific evidence.
See also: Badgers
4 November, 2007
High Court Judge upholds hunting conviction
A High Court judge upheld the criminal conviction of Quantock Staghounds officials Richard Down and Adrian Pillivant who were found guilty of breaching the Hunting Act by chasing deer with hounds on 16th February 2006. The two had clearly been out for 'sport and recreation'.
According to the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) there have been more than 20 convictions under the Hunting Act so far, yet hunters continue to breach the law. Obviously hunters keep getting away all too often due to lack of proper enforcement of the Act. Hence, as the hunting season is in full swing again, an EDM has been tabled calling for proper enforcement of the Hunting Act 2004.
Animals Count calls on everyone to urge their MP to sign EDM 2167 'Hunt Monitors' tabled by Paul Flynn.
28 October, 2007
Cameron: 'A law that everyone is openly flouting'
Not only Labour is cosying up to the shooting lobby the Mirror has now revealed that violent huntsmen have helped Cameron to power. Mr Cameron has never made his passion for hunting a secret, and while aligning himself with abusive huntsmen he allegedly said that: 'We've passed a law that everyone is openly flouting and it makes the law look stupid.'
Animals Count calls on the government to enforce the Hunting Act more strictly and instruct police forces to take serious actions against those who persistently ignore the Act.
Another disgusting practice is the practice of deer stalking; lay-people with an interest in shooting can easily obtain firearms and kill deer. Hundreds of thousands of deer are maimed and killed each year in the UK. An Animals Count member complained to DEFRA and he received the following response:
"For deer to be listed as a species that may be killed under their firearms certificate, an individual must demonstrate a need to shoot deer. Although there is no statutory obligation to obtain training in the shooting of deer, there are a number of training courses available to those who wish to shoot deer." For the full response click here.
No-one 'needs' to shoot deer for sport unless DEFRA suggests that some people have a psychological or even psychopathical 'need' to shoot deer, which, if thwarted, might result in them killing people. Scientific evidence shows that animal abuse and human violence are often linked.
21 October, 2007
Labour's vulgar support for shooting lobby
On 25 September Animals Count Chair, Jasmijn de Boo, attended the Labour Animal Welfare Society (LAWS) meeting at 7.30PM in Bournemouth. After speeches by the Chief Executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, Douglas Batchelor, and MPs Ian Cawsey and Angela Smith, and MEP Robert Evans, De Boo was the first to ask the following question:
"Although I applaud individual efforts of Labour MPs in advancing animal welfare, and in particular some MPs who have worked in difficult circumstances, I believe that Labour ought to do more for animals. The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) and Hunting Act are not properly enforced. Despite the 1997 promise to have a Royal Commission into the validity of animal experimentation, nothing happened and in fact animal use for experimentation is actually increasing. The UK is being plagued by FMD, bluetongue and avian influenza and no appropriate and humane action has been taken. The government talks of vaccination, however, the policy is not put in practice. More than 1800 animals have been culled. Finally, how can Labour host a reception for the British Association for Shooting and Conservation at 5.30PM and then have a consecutive meeting on animal welfare? How can these two things be reconciled? At a time when the 2 major party policies are very similar, animal welfare policies will be the deciding factor whom to vote for."
That the Labour panel members behaved in an arrogant and condescending manner towards De Boo was to be expected. However, they should now be aware that Labour needs to raise the bar for animals and that Animals Count is not going away. We urge everyone to write to their Labour MP to point out that if they don't improve their policies on animals, and introduce a ban on all hunting, you will not be voting for them. Please mention that you are now supporting Animals Count.
The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) reception was hosted by Labour vice-chair Martin Salter MP. Labour support for shooting was also given by Rural Affairs Minister, Jonathan Shaw; Sports Minister, Gerry Sutcliffe, and Home Office Minister, Vernon Coaker. However, the misplaced Labour support for shooting was also pointed out by several LAWS delegates and Douglas Batchelor from the League, and the vast majority of LAWS delegates were very dismayed about Labour's hypocritical stance on shooting.
Animal Aid has been campaigning against the intensive rearing conditions of 40 million pheasants and partridges who are released into the wild to be shot. Says Animal Aid Director, Andrew Tyler:
'In Europe, the British government is pursuing a ban on battery cages for egg laying hens because the devices are widely considered to be inhumane. At the same time, battery cages for pheasants and partridges are set to be awarded a government seal of approval under a welfare act that is supposed to penalise ‘unnecessary suffering’. This represents a massive betrayal of animals by a government that - in running scared of another battle with the bloodsports lobby - is giving a virtual free hand to an industry that is guilty of systematic and gratuitous animal cruelty on a massive scale.’
28 September, 2007
Published letter in The Independent, 14 September, 'Labour big guns under fire'
Sir: I thank Henry Deedes (Pandora, 10 September) for highlighting the fact that Martin Salter MP has seen fit to become a patron for a body which supports the shooting of animals for sport, a move which has been rightly attacked by Animals Count (who are not a "colourful outfit" but a serious and moderate political party with several seats in the Dutch parliament and now gaining a presence in the UK).
They echo the feeling of the vast majority of people in the UK, which is one of revulsion that any human being can gain pleasure in inflicting pain on living creatures. All political parties will soon have to wake up to the fact that their records on animal welfare are a key factor for many people when deciding for whom to vote at elections, partly because the key mainstream policies of the major parties have become quite similar, so people look to other deciding factors.
Peter Collins
London EC4
Shooting season opens on Labour huntsman
On 10 September The Independent published an article based on our press release below:
PRESS RELEASE: Guns and roses - Labour MP to become shooting patron Animals Count was shocked to learn that on 30th August Martin Salter, a Labour MP and a Labour Vice-Chair, became a Centenary patron for the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC). Mr Salter is further to host the 'Rural Reception' sponsored by BASC and The Fisheries and Angling Conservation Trust at the Labour Party Conference on the 25th September. The Labour party claims to be the Government responsible for most animal welfare advances, yet promotes killing for 'sport.'
Anyone with an interest in shooting can obtain a firearms certificate for a rifle. Hundreds of thousands of people stalk and kill deer, for example. DEFRA replied in a letter to an Animals Count member that:
"For deer to be listed as a species that may be killed under their firearms certificate, an individual must demonstrate a need to shoot deer. Although there is no statutory obligation to obtain training in the shooting of deer, there are a number of training courses available to those who wish to shoot deer."
According to wildlife expert and Animals Count member, John Bryant, "no-one 'needs' to shoot deer for sport unless DEFRA suggests that some people have a psychological or even psychopathical 'need' to shoot deer, which, if thwarted, might result in them killing people" (and scientific evidence shows that animal abuse and human violence are often linked). Incidents with guns in urban and rural areas regularly harm and kill both people and animals.
"We urge the Labour government to develop legislation giving wild mammals the same protection as birds, i.e. protected from killing and cruel persecution. We would further like to see an end to the unrestricted use and licensing of firearms for lay people" said Jasmijn de Boo, Chair Animals Count.
6 September, 2007