Labour’s Animal Welfare

The above was in reply to Anniebach.

Summerfly i campaigned against fox hunting for many years, witnessed the brutality of cubbing .

Anniebach

Summerfly i campaigned against fox hunting for many years, witnessed the brutality of cubbing .
I have so much respect for the sab’s Annie.

He dislikes foxes because they got into the chicken enclosure and badgers because of the supposed spread of T B to cattle which leads to whole herds being destroyed if not caught early. Btw I do not agree with hunting foxes or anything else and I do not agree with killing badgers.

There is a weird thing in the countryside sometimes. I live in a village that I wouldnt actually describe as 'in the countryside', it is a village in a fairly rural area but it's not as if we are in the middle of nowhere with only 3 farms, two dogs and a post box. However there is a hunt meet in our village every Boxing Day, and without failure a Boxing Day Hunt row on the village Facebook page.
The refrain is if you choose to live in the countryside you have to accept hunting. Er no I signed no such contract when I came here 25 years ago. Those who are pro hunting seemed to fail to understand people in the 'countryside' hold a range of views.

They should ban the killing of grey squirrels and also fishing, even if fish are thrown back having had a hook hurt their mouths or gasping for air in a net. There are many gun-happy individuals going grey squirrel shooting

karmalady

They should ban the killing of grey squirrels and also fishing, even if fish are thrown back having had a hook hurt their mouths or gasping for air in a net. There are many gun-happy individuals going grey squirrel shooting

If we want our native red squirrels to have a chance of making a real come-back, then poxy grey squirrels must be culled.
They are not native to Britain.

That being said, we have them in our garden and they are very cute to watch, even when they dig in my pots. I couldn't hurt them myself.

Some introduced species have decimated our native wildlife. Bringing back our native species from the brink of extinction is a priority.

Grey squirrels must be some of the cutest looking pests, ever

Whitewavemark2

Callistemon21

Crikey, Whitewave! No need to go off on one.

I only mentioned foxes and yes, many people in towns and cities do have some kind of sentimental ideas about them.
You don't, fair enough.

I don't agree with fox hunting or badger culling either but foxes are regarded as pests.

Iceland has just granted a licence for a company to kill 128 fin whales this year.

Oh sorry I mis-judged that - I apologise

But what I said still stands😀

Why on earth are you feeding urban foxes Whitwavemark2
This encourages them even more to not fear humans and some even go into houses and have attacked young kids and babies in their cots.
Don’t do it, please!

Feeding urban foxes is so wrong, why do it ?

MissAdventure

Grey squirrels must be some of the cutest looking pests, ever

They are, aren't they.

Mine all have names 😁

And now we have a Home Secretary (Jimmy Dimly aka James Cleverly) intervening in the case of a loose cow. A matter in former times for the relevant Constable's Sergeant or perhaps his Inspector. Perhaps the King should get involved or perhaps we should ask Joe Boden to investigate. Does the Home S⅞ecretary have nothing more demanding in his In Tray?

I feed the fox couple because last year i kept seeing them and they were clearly starving - emancipated and the brushes were so thin and their coat dull - so I put out the food that my dog had left. Gradually over the months they have become shiny handsome specimens. They get a meal every evening at about 9pm. They are bringing their cubs now who look like healthy miniature specimens of their parents. They are extremely timid and are totally absent during the day only coming out at night. I have no interaction with them, in fact I totally ignore them. They aren’t pets, but part of our eco- system, which I value snd will help if I can.

I also feed the squirrels - they come every morning at about 10am.

I will admit to relocating the excess mouse population, who play fast and loose in the greenhouse.

Of course I feed the birds. That started because the sparrows seem to be diminishing in number so I started to feed them - got loads now😀, we also have a healthy starling population - although they are on the red list as are the herring gull which everyone hates - incredibly handsome birds.

I expect that other people tut about it as well. 😀 but I can live with that. What I can’t live with is the diminishing biodiversity that is happening in our country. So I have a garden for pollinators, hedgehogs and frogs, a rotting wood pile for beetles and anything else I can do to enrich our eco-system.

Presumably this is in response to chats to the public? I don't think politicians realise how many people care about animals. With so much countryside being destroyed, we really need more laws to protect wildlife and farmers. Foxes can be dealt with without the brutality of hunting. The hunting fraternity breed foxes in order to have the pleasure of killing them.
Part of the problem lies in the fact that the upper classes are generally the participants.
Where I live in the north, hare hunting is a huge problem. Farmers are being intimidated by brutes with their dogs who trespass and destroy crops in order to hunt hares.
Children with air guns and catapults are killing wildlife on rivers and canals.
All of these things come under the heading of animal welfare. We cannot consider ourselves a civilised country until all animal cruelty is dealt with.

Callistemon21

MissAdventure

Grey squirrels must be some of the cutest looking pests, ever

They are, aren't they.

Mine all have names 😁

We had one attacking the bird feeders, chewing the way into them to get the food, so I suspended them on a long garden wire that he could not grip. That defeated him, so he had to dig up all the walnuts he buried in the autumn

My squirrels have a love of tulip bulbs
They must be like chocolate to them. ☹

We had one attacking the bird feeders, chewing the way into them to get the food, so I suspended them on a long garden wire that he could not grip.

I've bought metal fat ball feeders that the squirrel can't chew his way into.
I've also learned to only half fill them. I watched one day as the clever so-and-so lifted the lid and ran off with a whole fat ball in his mouth 😳
Now he can't reach down far enough into the feeder.

V3ra

^We had one attacking the bird feeders, chewing the way into them to get the food, so I suspended them on a long garden wire that he could not grip.^

I've bought metal fat ball feeders that the squirrel can't chew his way into.
I've also learned to only half fill them. I watched one day as the clever so-and-so lifted the lid and ran off with a whole fat ball in his mouth 😳
Now he can't reach down far enough into the feeder.

I found a fat ball buried in one of my garden pots.
We don't put them out any more as the birds don't seem keen so it must have come from a neighbour's garden.

I found a fat ball buried in one of my garden pots.
We don't put them out any more as the birds don't seem keen so it must have come from a neighbour's garden.

I've found the birds are very choosy which fatballs they'll eat 🤔
The RSPB ones were very popular, but not cheap.
This year I have the Peckish brand which they all seem happy with.

Many years ago I watched a squirrel steal individual peanuts from the bird feeder and carefully bury them in the garden borders.
He obviously didn't realise the supply would be available all winter! Poor thing spent hours doing it 😞

I buy squirrel food. It is very reasonable.

Whitewavemark2

I buy squirrel food. It is very reasonable.

Do you have a rat problem? I've seen one or two around here, one hanging off the bird feeder. DH put Vaseline on the pole, it kept sliding down and we haven't seen it since.

He obviously didn't realise the supply would be available all winter! Poor thing spent hours doing it 😞
A peanut at a time? 😂

Callistemon21

Whitewavemark2

I buy squirrel food. It is very reasonable.

Do you have a rat problem? I've seen one or two around here, one hanging off the bird feeder. DH put Vaseline on the pole, it kept sliding down and we haven't seen it since.

No 🤞🤞. But our little terrier - huge rodent hunter - died recently so I’m watching the situation. We do welcome Tofu (next doors cat) into the garden who is also the worlds best hunter. Not keen on his lavatory habits though 🙂 but needs must.

I'm amazed that none of our cute fox lovers are standing up for rats. They, too, have a place in the ecosystem..

None of us are perfect are we?

But I do the best I can.