MPs will debate whether to ban driven grouse shooting after a petition created by a leading conservationist passed the threshold of more than 100,000 signatures. Mark Avery, a campaigner and former head of the RSPB, launched the petition in March with backing from broadcasters Chris Packham and Bill Oddie, and the League Against Cruel Sports, […]
Tag: League Against Cruel Sports
POLL: Should the use of snares be banned in the UK?
There was a documentary released recently which looked at ‘balance’ in journalism and politics. It pointed out how the desire for balance can actually skew the real story – take climate change for example. The vast majority of scientists now believe that climate change is real. However, news stories about the subject are obliged to […]
POLL: Should driven grouse-shooting be banned?
The season for red grouse-shooting is about to begin. But its driven form, where beaters flush birds towards the guns, is having a terrible impact on the environment and on other birdlife, to the cost of every nature-lover and taxpayer. Mark Avery, former conservation director of the RSPB, explains why this most unsporting sport should […]
POLL: Should the ban on fox hunting be relaxed in the UK?
More than 300 hunts gathering for Boxing Day met on Saturday amid growing parliamentary opposition from Conservative MPs to repealing the ban on hunting foxes with packs of hounds. The traditional outings, expected to attract around 250,000 riders and supporters, are usually portrayed by the Countryside Alliance as a symbol of mass protest against the […]
POLL: Should spring hunting on Malta be stopped?
Fiona Burrows is the kind of activist that hunters in Malta love to hate. The Nottingham 30-year-old has been threatened, cursed at, and pushed around while doing the job she says she lives for: stealthily filming the illegal hunting of protected migratory birds and reporting perpetrators to the police. Burrows takes precautions – she always […]
POLL: Should the cull of badgers be allowed to continue in 2014?
This year will be pivotal for one of the most controversial policies involving animal welfare in recent times, when the government decides whether to proceed with extending the badger cull pilots, which began last summer in the areas of Gloucestershire and Somerset, to other parts of England. The effectiveness of the trials is currently being assessed […]
POLL: Should the fox-hunting laws in the UK be relaxed?
A senior Liberal Democrat has called on the coalition to reconsider the fox-hunting law as it is being flouted with impunity and encourages young people in the countryside to think it is normal to break the law. Sir Nick Harvey, a former defence minister, described the fox-hunting law as “an ass” since it is routinely […]
Collateral Damage
It’s well known that gamekeepers do their best to stop predators – like eagles, foxes, kites and others – from eating valuable game birds. Every grouse or pheasant is worth around £30-40 to an estate. But what is recently beginning to emerge is the extent to which gamekeepers in Scotland are persecuting mountain hares. There […]