Noel Gregory's Animal Report 2012

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NOEL GREGORY'S

ANIMAL REPORT 2012

Badger baiting is alive and well in 21st Century Ireland. This is a so-called 'bloodsport'from the Middle Ages. Vicious dogs are released to hunt badgers out of their setts. Thedogs can get their faces torn to shreds as the badger is a fairly tough customer whenconfronted in its sett. The dog-handler carries a long-handled spade to dig the badger outof its sett and put into a box for transportation to a clandestine venue where there is abetting-ring in operation, wagering the outcome of the fight to the death between the dogand the badger.

Badgers are blamed for giving TB to cattle but there is no conclusive evidence of this. I

regard this as a blood-libel against the badger. It is very possible that the cattle give the TBto the badgers, who turn over cow pats in search of slugs, etc.

Wire snares are used to cull badgers and tens of thousands have been killed in the last 20years, with licences from the National Parks and Wildlife Service to the Department ofAgriculture. This, even though the badger is a protected species under the Wildlife Act.Simon Coveney, Minister for Agriculture, is now responsible for this state of affairs.

Shane McEntee, Minister for State, Department of Agriculture, recently said there is nodanger to the hare at coursing events and we should go and see for ourselves. This, inspite of the fact that hares are terrified out of their wits and psychologically traumatised,mauled and tossed into the air, suffering broken bones and internal injuries and bleeding.This is not a "sport", it is a barbaric practice to satiate the bloodlust of the spectators. SaintFrancis said "these animals are our brethern and we should treat them accordingly."

It is an offence in Northern Ireland for anyone to organise, attend or participate in harecoursing or to supply or transport hares to a coursing event. In 21st Century society, wehave the responsibility to protect our wild creatures. We must petition the Government toban this cruelty in the 26 counties. The Irish Hare is a threatened species; it is unique toIreland and different from the English brown hare.

The government should also start legislating for fox-hunting to be replaced by drag-hunting. We do not wish to prevent the spectacle of horses and hounds and the sound ofthe horns or the sight of the red and black uniforms of the rider, but they should befollowing and chasing after an artificial scent, rather than a terrified, stressed-out,exhausted fox. Fox-hunting is banned in most civilised countries.

According to Junior Minister Shane McEntee, the ban on stag hunting "must be revisitedin the lifetime of the present government." He said he would not give up his fight to havethe ban reversed. He has a staunch ally in this endeavour in Environment Minister PhilHogan. R.I.S.E. (Rural Ireland Says Enough) got a written guarantee from Fine Gaelbefore the 2011 General Election that it would repeal the legislation banning stag hunting.

We must remain vigilant and determined that this will not be allowed to happen. The WardUnion will look for any loophole in the legislation to defeat the ban on stag hunting. Theyare now hunting with just one hound.

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Deer poaching is now at an all-time high due to the recession and the high priced obtainedfor venison. Deer poaching is out of control in Wicklow and Kerry.

The Irish Council against Blood Sports was originally founded in 1966 to campaign againstbullfighting. There was great rejoicing when bull fighting was banned in Catalonia in

2010. This followed a ban in the Canaries but in the rest of Spain it is still continues. Whydo they have to kill the bull at the end if not to satisfy the blood lust of the spectators? Thekilling of the bull is revolting, sadistic and grotesque.

"Bulls in the street" festivals also continue. In 2011, many were injured while in the processof taunting bulls charging along narrow streets of towns and villages. At least one man wasgored to death having taunted a bull with an umbrella.

The latest news is that Ecuador, a former colony of Spain in South America has bannedbullfighting after 500 years of the practice.

Bullfighting in Ecuador was the pastime of the descendants of the former Spanish rulingclass. It was never taken up by the native indigenous Ecuadorians. There is also amovement in Mexico to ban bullfighting there. We must be vigilant and keep up the effortto ban this barbaric practice wherever it is still in vogue - Spain, Colombia, Venezuela,Peru, Bolivia and Costa Rica. Incidentally, cock fighting was also banned in Ecuadorrecently.

It is worth mentioning that greyhounds are also vulnerable to injury in hare coursingevents. Our dogs, man's best friend and woman's too, need to be protected. There is aplan to export Irish greyhounds to South East Asian countries where animal welfare andanimal rights are not top of the agenda for the authorities.

There may not be a law to protect animals in some of these countries. Where betting maybe illegal, e.g. China, it is the criminal underworld who run the clandestine greyhoundracing tracks. Even in Ireland because of the recession, old greyhounds retired from racingare being left to fend for themselves after being abandoned by their owners. In South EastAsia, they would be turned into dog meat.

It is worth noting in passing that the Irish Wolf thrived in Ireland up to the time of theCromwellian Plantation. At one time, Ireland was known to the English as "Wolf Land".They are now extinct. In Japan they are training dogs to sniff out cancer cells in humans.

This would make them truly man's best friend.

We must also not forget that horses are vulnerable to injury and even death when beingused in foxhunting. Also, when horses get past their use-by-date, they are now beingabandoned because of the recession and the cost of maintaining them. This should becracked down upon by the authorities.

Unemployed teenagers get great enjoyment from looking after their ponies and the animalwelfare groups should encourage this and provide welfare for the horses and give trainingto the unemployed youth to treat their horses as they should be treated.

Horse projects should be set up for these youths who would benefit from an interest in life.This would curb anti-social behaviour, criminal activities and drug dealing among

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unemployed urban youth from disadvantaged areas. This would solve the abandonedhorse problem as well.

Fingal County Council has done some great work in this regard on the Northside of Dublin,particularly in the Finglas area. These youths should also be provided with horsemanagement and welfare courses by FAS or other state training agencies. Moyross in

Limerick would benefit from such an initiative. The Dunsink Horse owners club in Finglaswould be the example and template to follow.

The Bible tells us "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and "Love they neighbour". The animal kingdom isour neighbour. An increasingly more prevalent term now in vogue is the word "cull". Cullmeans to kill and even exterminate in some cases. So we are told that we mustexterminate so-called invasive species such as the brown English hare, the grey squirreland feral mink. This is unacceptable and gives hunters carte blanche to carry on apogrom against these wild creatures.

It would be much more acceptable to confine these alien species to certain areas of the

country. Where there's a will, there's a way.

Jimmy Deenihan tells us that biodiversity can attract tourism. The Irish pine marten ismaking a come back in the west of Ireland after near extinction by over hunting andpoisoning. There is a huge controversy at the time of writing concerning the issuing of gunlicences by the Gardai to shooters and hunters. Sika deer, fox and mink are allowed tobe culled. Killing defenceless animals is no sport as far as I am concerned. It is simply alust for blood or money. In Africa, elephants and rhino are being slaughtered on anunprecedented scale for their ivory and their horns for the South-East Asian market.

Every year Canada allows a seal cull where defenceless seals are brutally clubbed todeath in an orgy of blood letting. The Japanese still continue in spite of the 1986moratorium on whaling to kill whales because of a loop hole in the law which they exploit.Last year, a humpback whale was seen off Howth. This is an endangered species.Because of global warming, Bowhead whales are now able to navigate the North WestPassage from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Fin whales, the second largest living mammalwere spotted off Hook Head in Wexford some time ago.

It is not commonly known that shooters and hunters have carte blanch to cull magpies,crows, rooks, jackdaws and gulls and wood pigeons from farms and in the vicinity ofairports even thought all birds are protected by EU law.

They are regarded as vermin and pests by the Department of the Environment andallowed to be shot. Surely there should be some less lethal method of scaring birds, ourfeathered friends, away from airports and crops. Did Phil Hogan never hear of thescarecrow? Could the Department of the Environment not come up with a 21st Centuryhigh tech scarecrow for this purpose with a flashing light and emitting sound vibrationsaudible only to birds?

It is sad that so many human beings have no other way to entertain and enjoy themselvesthan shooting wild duck, pheasant, grouse and geese almost to extinction. The recentcontroversy in the Gardai over the issuing of gun licences to hunters and shooters shows

that the number of applicants has gone through the roof.

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Bird Watch Ireland recently reported poisoned, tethered pigeons were used to lure andpoison two wild buzzards near Roscrea. It is illegal to use poison to kill birds. The effort toreintroduce the Golden Eagle, white-tailed eagle and Red Kite back in to Ireland hasbeen plagued by poisoning incidents particularly in Kerry. Unscrupulous farmers wereleaving out poisoned bait to kill foxes. This is now illegal since 2010.

Hen Harriers are becoming extinct in Kerry and Wicklow. Twenty six red kites werereleased recently in North Dublin as part of a larger programme to reintroduce the nativespecies to Ireland.

While the curlew, cuckoo and the corncrake are declining in numbers in Ireland, thewoodpeckerand the bittern are enjoying a comeback. Too many farmers are ignorant onthe subject of preservation of habitats and biodiversity on the periphery of their fields andhedgerows and also in wetlands. Intensive farming methods and the switchover from haymaking to silage have destroyed the habitats of the Corncrake in every county in Ireland.Farmland drainage has also interfered with the habitat of the native curlew. It is legal toshoot the curlew over the winter even though it is on the brink of extinction.

Rat poison is wiping out the barn owl on many farms. Wind farms, forestry and industrialturf-cutting all destroy the curlew's habitat. There is good news, however, for the bittern,celebrated in the poetry of Francis Ledwidge. A small number of them have been spottedin Co Wexford and woodpeckers have recently returned to County Wicklow.

Puffins on Lambay Island and Ireland's Eye off Howth are now under threat from rats.There are over a thousand pairs ofRoseate Terns nesting off Skerries in a project to savethese birds from extinction due to hunting for their white fathers and industrial fishingtechniques.

The Little Eagret is now coming to Ireland in large numbers due to climate change.Climate change in the Sahara is also the cause of fewercuckoos migrating to Ireland inrecent years. The Irish Grey Partridge is making a comeback in Co Offaly - my motherEllen's native county - and in North County Dublin near Oldtown where 70 were releasedrecently. Habitat has been provided on three farms along the margins of the headlands ofthe fields for the Partridge to exploit. However the Irish Red Grouse is being hunted toextinction.

On a brighter note, cranes have returned to Ireland after an absence of 300 years. While Ilive in the Inner City of Dublin, I enjoy a daily fly-past of ducks and swans and the odd visit

of a heron because I live on the banks of the Royal Canal in Ballybough. Water hens canbe seen in the canal and sometimes a cormorant fishing.

Noel Gregory

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Noel Gregory

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Noel Gregory's Animal Report 2012

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