Chris Gale's Weblog

Welsh Labour Ministers and AMs vote to massacre badgers

An attempt to stop the policy of slaughtering thousands of badgers by the Labour/Plaid coalition government in Wales failed today in the Welsh Assembly.

Nine AMs voted in favour of stopping the cull and 43 voted for it to go ahead.

This unscientific and morally reprehensible policy is the work of Labour and Plaid politicians in cahoots with Tories and Liberals. It is a policy to please their friends and allies in the farming lobby.

That senior Labour politicians are responsible for this disgrace makes me ashamed to hold a Labour party membership card.

NRA Supports Cruelty

Graphic - Steve Hindi Interviewed Regarding Animal Abuse

Tory party pledges government Bill to re-legalise barbarism

The 'modern' Tory party is exposed as a huge sham. Not content with making alliances with far right groups in Europe,these 'compassionate' Tories are also pledged to throw the full weight of a Tory administration behind repealing the ban on hunting with dogs.

In 2010 if there is a Tory government we would see the barbarous come to power....

War on wildlife continues under Obama

This week the US federal government was responsible for aerial gunning down of the last four members of the Sage Creek wolf pack in southwestern Montana.

Is this Obama's 'Change' we heard so much about?!

Labour supports bloodsports

Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe MP once again gave his backing to the killing for fun fraternity on Monday evening at the Labour Party conference.

Mr Sutcliffe refused to speak to me as I made a protest outside the Bristish Association for Shooting & Conservation (BASC) fringe event in the Grand Hotel at which he spoke.
The event was hosted by Labour's backbench 'spokesman for shooting' Martin Salter MP.

Every year, more than 40 million pheasants and partridges are purpose-bred for the shooting industry. Around 18 million birds are shot and retrieved, whilst millions more will die from their wounds, starvation, predation or under the wheels of cars.

The active support of the Labour government for this barbarity is deeply shameful and has caused countless voters to no longer support Labour at the ballot box or in campaigning.

Obama, like Sarah Palin, hails hunting, killing wild animals

Well, on the eve of that special season when so many Americans blast migrating ducks out of the sky and blow large holes in the side of fleeing deer, Barack Obama has just issued a special Presidential Proclamation.He's saluting and celebrating those "ageless pursuits" of hunting and fishing, just like some caribou-killing ex-Alaska governor might.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/09/barack-obama-game-hunter-and-fisherperson.html

Say NO to bloodsports Minister!

Every year in Britain, about 35 million pheasants
and five million partridges are purpose-bred to
be released for shooting.

Shamefully, the red carpet is being rolled out once again at Labour Party conference for the killing for fun lobby.
Martin Salter MP (pictured above on a killing spree), Labour's 'backbench spokesman for shooting,' will once again host the British Association for Shooting & Conservation (BASC) reception, an event at which the killing for fun industry will be lauded by a cabal of Ministers and MPs.

It is shocking that one of the speakers at this shameful event will be sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe MP.

Why is Labour endorsing what is an industry of death for people who get kicks out of killing?

The use of birds as live targets is nothing short of despicable.

 

Decent minded, compassionate people see nothing 'sporting' in blasting birds from the sky for entertainment. In addition, the associated so-called 'predator control' of snaring kills and maims thousands of wild and domestic animals every year. Snaring also causes misery and deep distress to countless people each year when much loved pets are killed or injured in snares. These barbaric, medieval devices are the tools of the trade of the bloodsports lobby of which BASC is a major part.

 

In what is the final conference before the election it would be very bad for the Labour party if once again our Ministers are seen to endorse the shooting industry and its cruelty for 'sport'.

Decent minded and compassionate voters have been e-mailing Mr Sutcliffe to urge him not to attend the BASC event. Let's hope he listens and stands up for values befitting a modern, progressive political party.

PLEASE SAY NO TO BLOODSPORTS MINISTER!

Rock legend Brian May backs campaign to ban snares

Let us hope our Labour government for once puts aside its shameful support of the shooting industry and bans these disgusting devices!

Thank you Brian for your wonderful support of compassionate values!

'I wholeheartedly support your campaign to ban the use of snares in Britain.
We all know what is right, here ... these appalling instruments of painful death are the counterpart of landmines.
Nothing justifies this.
It is time for the cruelty to end. NOW.'

Brian May, Queen guitarist

Rock legend Greg Lake supports campaign to ban snares

Campaign launched on Facebook in memory of Norfolk cat killed by snare

Nearly four hundred people from across Britain and around the world have joined an online campaign calling on the British government to ban the manufacture,sale and use of snares. The group is named in memory of Marmalade, a two-year-old ginger tom who was snared in a hedge near his Aylsham home in February 2009. The snare had been set to protect birds purpose bred for sport shooting. 

The campaign has been bolstered by the support of Greg Lake, co-founder and the voice of rock legends King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

Mr Lake said, 'the act of snaring animals says far more about the perpetrator than it does the victim and what it says to me, is that anyone who takes pleasure inflicting pain and suffering upon innocent animals is simply a disgrace to humanity and should be treated accordingly.'

The Facebook group was set up by Wiltshire based animal welfare campaigner Chris Gale who says the government must act to stop the misery and death caused to wild and domestic animals and the devastation endured by owners of animals killed by these appalling devices.

Members of the online campaign have e-mailed Defra Minister Jim Fitzpatrick MP and Labour Party Vice Chair Ian Cawsey MP calling for a ban.

Mr Gale said, 'In the 21st Century we should not be a country that allows wild and domestic animals to be brutally killed or injured in mediaeval devices that are part of an industry of killing in the name of sport. Mr Gale added,'It is wonderful to have the support of Greg Lake for this campaign and it will give a huge boost to all those who want snaring banned once and for all'. 

Background:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V92Y5Mel8p0

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=132551183920

http://www.northnorfolknews.co.uk/content/northnorfolknews/news/story.aspx?brand=NNNOnline&category=news&tBrand=NNNonline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED16%20Jul%202009%2009:11:15:347

http://www.antisnaring.org.uk/

The UK is one of only five European members that still allow animal snares to be used. Ireland, France, Spain and Belgium have far stricter snare rules compared to the UK.

Around 36,000 foxes are snared each year by fox snares. More than 12,300 animals are killed in the UK by gamekeepers every day for the benefit of the shooting interests.

Almost 70 per cent of animals caught in snares are not the intended targets. No DEFRA official has ever checked to see if a snare fulfils their own code of practice and are lawful.