Leghold traps are obscenely cruel. Thankfully, their use is prohibited in the UK. We have almost no fur bearing animals but there are plenty of equally unpleasant and legal methods available for ‘country folk’ to persecute our wildlife. Details below:
For the 3rd autumn in succession, men with powerful but silenced rifles are prowling around my village, in the dark, with night vision equipment trying to rid the environment of the only protected large carnivore in GB. 1/-
Today I had the privilege of a morning with
@gow_derek
in and around his re-wilding project in west Devon. It's ambitious and exciting - Derek's enthusiasm is infectious. Good luck!
Good evening
@FerberPainting
. Do you know that many of the products you offer for sale are prohibited in the UK? If not, you should. Poisoning or attempting to poison weasels, badgers, foxes, beavers and snakes is a crime. Withdraw these products.
The government claims that the standards of shooting badgers are comparable to the standards of killing other wildlife which is “currently accepted by society”. Whose acceptance? It’s nonsense. I haven’t been asked. And I’m willing to bet that you haven’t been either. 6/-
For these are the agents of secretly licensed private companies authorised by the government to kill badgers. This is taking place over 40% of the area of England. This represents the combined area of 3 national parks: Kruger, the Everglades and Royal Chitwan.
2/-
Residents are told nothing. Nada. Rien. Diddly squat. It’s a secret. You will get more information in a three minute warning of nuclear armageddon. I encourage you to drop any notion that you might have had that wildlife is for everyone. 3/-
@JoshLukeDavis
Euthanasia is the practice of ‘intentionally ending life to relieve pain and suffering’. The walrus was, as far as I know, neither in pain nor suffering. It was shot because it was an inconvenience.
Common Swift, Apus apus, West Moor, May 2019 - each spring I tell myself that I am going to photograph swift and do it well. Each year I end up disappointed - except this year, I think I might have done it.
I haven’t gone into the effects of protracted & widespread badger killing on the prevalence of bTB. Suffice it to say that I’m sceptical, very sceptical, that both current & apparently planned policies are very unlikely to achieve eradication by the expected date of 2038. 9/9
One would have thought the shooters would be expected to operate with the utmost probity. Here’s a screenshot of one with an uncovered rifle on the back seat of his vehicle while on a public road not 400 m from my home. Perhaps not. 7/-
Authorised shooters undergo training but independent scrutiny once they are deployed is deficient despite the government-appointed Independent Expert Panel’s recommendation to increase the proportion of shooting observed. 5/-
Perhaps most act with utmost care and attention and this is an aberration, a momentary lapse of judgement. But without independent scrutiny and reporting how will we ever know? And with 3rd party observation of shooting how can we certain that badgers are killed humanely? 8/-
This is astounding. A litter of several 12 week-old wolf cubs and their parents in one of the most densely populated countries in the world. About 80 km from Amsterdam.
After licensed badger, cormorant & buzzard killing, if further proof that
@NaturalEngland
exists solely to facilitate the exploitation, by a tiny minority, of the natural environment was needed, here it is. And don’t forget....sod the rest of you.
Traps set, illegally & at scale maim and kill sentient animals indiscriminately. As a vet of 40+ yrs, I condemn this. These people need to be held to account and brought to heel. Inspect, prosecute, prohibit: Do something, for pity’s sake.
@NaturalEngland
@defra
🚩More illegal traps in
@peakdistrict
Horrified walkers found a series of highly illegal uncovered Fenn traps on a grouse moor- with a live victim who could not be saved. Yet more blatant wildlife crime in our national park. Please RT.
@WarOnWildlife
@ChrisGPackham
@FoxHITeam
If there was any doubt about the need to prohibit these foul things, this ought to remove it. I defy anyone to provide evidence that snares are humane & can safely discriminate between species. It is not possible.
@OtlPodcasts
@AnimalAid
A pelican? A PELICAN? I thought
@guardian
’s Week In Wildlife reached rock bottom last week with a hare described as a rabbit but this, this.... I’m speechless.
@guardianeco
This is a mole trap I bought on-line to use at a talk I am giving next month - This is exactly as it came with no label, no instructions & no advice. 1/3
The areas of Spain and Sweden are similar. Spain has 18 million sheep and around 2000 wolves. Sweden has 0.5 million sheep and yet can’t tolerate 270 wolves.
Scrutiny of badger killing now effectively zero bringing it into line with gamekeeping and ‘pest’ control: Unaccountable and unmonitored. Worse, the culls are demonstrably ineffective in controlling TB.
@BBCPallab
@fishvetmj
@domdyer70
@JMPSimor
I spent several years as a government vet implementing the single market in fresh meat. In the space of six months the paperwork and associated activity went from several hours to a few minutes - and with no change in risk to animal or public health. Mrs Currie is wrong.
Defra has promised to review evidence on snares. But is amassing evidence & a consultation necessary to conclude that the snare is an inherently inhumane method of capturing an animal? Watch this & draw your own conclusion. (FWIW, I would do the same as Doug. Well done.)
Us little people are not to be trusted with the detail but it is estimated that an area similar to that of Israel or Kruger National Park is the subject of systematic killing of our native wildlife. No other country in the world does this.
This is a wicked crime. I’m past furious; given the money and effort involved to bring these birds back, I’m simply sad. And baffled about the perpetrators. What goes through the minds of those responsible? Have they no shame?
📹 In this video, Head of Investigations Scotland
@Ian_M_Thomson
speaks about the white-tailed eagle found poisoned, with a banned pesticide, on a grouse moor - the latest in a catalogue of incidents.
"It would be wrong to say we were surprised"
Surely now, enough is enough. 👇
My first night in the most excellent hide at
@Bawdsey_Hall
and not only did I complete the set of British mustelids, I got a photo! Several, in fact. What a cool creature is the polecat.
I showed my neighbour’s grandsons the slow worms that lurk in my garden and some of the moths from the overnight light trap. Two days later they gave me this. Isn’t it brilliant? Future candidates for the GCSE in Nat History?
@curlewcalls
If Netherlands can manage with to live with wolves (NL has a population density almost twice that of the UK), then we ought to give this serious consideration.
A parcel has just arrived from
@pelagicpublish
containing seven ‘advance reading copies’ of my soon-to-be-published book (Feb ‘23). This might be the only tangible thing I’ve completed since my son was born.
The biggest sustained campaign against a native animal since the wolf was extirpated from the USA, just got bigger. Badgers may be lawfully killed across 1/3 of England.
@domdyer70
@MarkAvery
@ChrisGPackham
@patrick_barkham
And yet in the UK, a few beavers nibble a tree or two and the wrath of landowners knows no bounds. Supported and trained, of course, by our very own statutory agency for killing wildlife,
@nature_scot
.
Peer-reviewed science that shows this type of trap and other mole traps are unlikely to kill moles quickly. It is likely that they take several hours to die. There is no good reason why moles are treated so badly other tradition and prejudice. 3/3
Ay caramba! I'm not much of a twitcher but I made an exception for this one: The walrus in Tenby this morning. A much needed diversion and a lovely day out despite the long drive.
Take a look at this petition: killing of badgers is poorly monitored & has never met animal welfare standards recommended by independent experts. This method of culling is inhumane & should be banned.
@WildJustice_org
@RuthTingay
@ChrisGPackham
@MarkAvery
After over 70 trap sessions since the beginning of lockdown, I finally got to 200 species for the garden. Seems fitting it was this. What an extraordinary creature it is.
‘Ministers plan to introduce controversial targeted culling […] whereby populations of badgers can be reduced to almost zero in some areas […]’
This measure is in direct contravention of Article 8 the Bern Convention to which the UK is a signatory.
Nine (9) wolf packs in a country with a human population density 2x that of GB. And yet we appear unable to either tolerate our existing wildlife (badgers) or make space for the most benign of our lost species (beavers). It’s small wonder that the
#StateOfNature
is dire.
🩸Behind the scenes on the Hilborough Estate 4
At what point does this stop getting called "conservation"?
Stink pits containing corvids, deer, hare and pigeons are used at snare sites on the Hilborough Estate, to draw predators into their deaths.
This is a wildlife massacre.
Photos from
@guardian
’s Week in Wildlife, 18 Oct. That’s not a robin and that’s not a magpie, ffs. Week after week, howler after howler. Employ someone with some basic knowledge of wildlife or get a field guide, for pity’s sake.
Is it just me or has anyone else reached the conclusion that every aspect of government wildlife policy in GB is now under the control of the NFU?
@NFUtweets
#WarOnWildlife
The UK is 100 years behind Sweden and 60 years behind Germany in restoring 🦫 to the wild. It’s time we caught up. I support
@WildlifeTrusts
call for the safe return of 🦫 to the UK. Show your support here:
Good evening,
@HighwaysSWEST
. I have just driven along the A303. Hundreds of metres of live, growing hedgerows have been cut down in the last 48 hrs to facilitate the building of a dual carriageway at Sparkford. I have a question. 1/-
@JasonEndfield
@SteveOrmerod
Of course, moles should be protected. They are - in Germany and many other countries. In the UK, anyone can kill them without training or supervision. The commonly used traps are unapproved, very likely inhumane and can be used year round leaving dependent young to starve.