Judi Hewitt of WAAC sent us the following news :
Transporters LE Jones of Ruthin in North Wales is being forced to close down for breaking regulations unconnected to animal welfare concerns.
Judi organised a demo against LE Jones a few years ago, because of their involvement in live exports. At an earlier live export protest, which the clerk attended, protesters found a dead sheep thrown to one side at the back of the depot. Earlier in the day, one of the transporters carrying heifers had arrived at the site and overturned on the roundabout – one could see the legs of the poor animals protruding through the slats. It took quite a few requests to the attending police to get a vet called to look at the heifers.
The transport commission told LE Jones to close shop at midnight on the 3rd. of May, but defenders of the company argue that this will supposedly cause one hundred jobs to be axed. This company has apparently had many warnings, yet still they continued to break the rules.
Pastor James Thompson, the Animals’ Padre and campaigners.
On May 3 09, animal activists said prayers and laid flowers in memory of all the animals transported by LE Jones Livestock Hauliers.
The Rev. James Thompson conducted a short service in memory of the animals – also including a prayer for the drivers.
Unfortunately, Judi reports, these prayers must have fallen upon deaf ears, because just as they were leaving, LE Jones staff arrived to help themselves to a selection of the flowers secured to a fence – left as a memorial for the countless pigs, sheep and cattle transported all over Europe.
Animals have been exported live for some forty years and it shames us all to know this appalling trade goes on unhindered, not just in Britain, but many parts of the world.
“By May 4, all the flowers and messages had gone – only a single red flower remains. So not content with ignoring the suffering of animals transported, they insult our memorial to those sentient creatures.”
Grey squirrel cruelty
Red Squirrel Groups and government agencies are at pains to convince the public how “humanely” they kill grey squirrels by clubbing them over the head with a blunt instrument – a method that if perpetrated against a human would be described as a “brutal murder”. Putting aside the argument that a human life is of more value than that of a squirrel, it is logical to say that if the method of dispatch is exactly the same there is no excuse for describing it differently. But there is a lesser-known act of extreme cruelty that needs to be laid at the door of these organisations and should be equally condemned by all right thinking people.
Cage traps indiscriminately catch squirrels of either sex and, as it is unlawful to release a grey squirrel once it has been caught, they must be killed. This means lactating females caught and killed throughout the year will leave orphaned kittens in their dreys (nests) to face a lingering death by starvation. Just because kittens are small and out of the public eye, doesn’t mean they feel any less pain and anguish. Red Squirrels Groups are well aware they are inflicting this cruelty on baby squirrels but choose to ignore it because it doesn’t suit their agenda.
Clubbing a grey squirrel over the head and starving its kittens to death are acts of violence. Scientific evidence shows that those who have little regard for the welfare of animals are likely to have a similar attitude to their fellow human beings. Abuse breeds abuse, and in our ever-increasing violent society, what example is it to younger generations that violence and killing is an acceptable solution to a perceived problem of not being native to this country?
In reality, rather than in the arbitrary world of conservation, all squirrels born in this country are as “native” by birth as we are, irrespective of our colour, background or success. To expect tolerance within our own population but condemn these animals on the basis of their ancestral background is extremely hypocritical and very close to racism.
The Grey Squirrel
Native by birth – Condemned by origin
Please read the website
http://www.grey-squirrel.org.uk
A Macmillan, Meikle Boturich, near Balloch, Dunbartonshire G83 8LX
Tel. 01389 756424 Fax. 01389 756723 Mob. 07836 548665
Email. amacmil304@aol.com
May 2009 ©