So, what now for the disbanded League Against Cruel Sports Investigations Team of England & Wales?
Some of us are still out there doing jobs local to us. Most of us were experienced volunteers before the League, so we can still be effective. We are joining forces with the already established, small but knowledgeable organisation, the Wildlife Guardian.*
Despite any claims to the contrary, the League has decided to moved away from any sort of hard-hitting investigations and prosecutions of wildlife cruelty, just as they moved away from the big community Boxing Day protests in the early 00s under the then CEO.
Action Against Foxhunting have picked up the slack in this department and have been very effective at arranging protests and getting hunts banned from public-owned land. Please support them if you can.
Likewise, we feel there is still a niche requirement for high value investigations and prosecutions. Effective lobbying of politicians requires credibility, knowledge and evidence. One can’t simply say “we think this is cruel” while dancing around in a furry suit! For example, we recently submitted a detailed report to interested MPs of some of our snare work and how the current legislation is failing wildlife and is difficult to enforce. This was well received and we’d like to continue with this work, aiming for an outright ban on snares within the next 3 years.
Regarding fox hunting, the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood has just passed the new legislation to replace the existing Protection of Wild Mammals Bill (2002) with a new stronger law. All credit to the small independent team of League Scotland who led the way on this. The jury is still out on whether it will actually be an improvement as the loophole of licensing has been introduced. It is still vague as to how this would apply to the existing hunts in Scotland.
The England & Wales legislation, the Hunting Act (2004), has its flaws but the main problem is the lack of enforcement and the substantial resources put into defending cases by the Countryside Alliance. The Act does however require strengthening by increasing the maximum punishment to a potential custodial sentence (as in Scotland) and the removal of the ridiculous loopholes that are currently exploited by hunts.
We have more experience of hunting court cases than anyone else in the UK and we would like to maintain that record. Mark Hankinson (ex-Director of the Master of Foxhounds Association) only 2 years ago in the now famous webinars described our little team as “a force to be reckoned with”.
We have some planned operations in the next few months that will hopefully bear fruit. Having spoken to League supporters in the past at stalls and events, it was clear that investigations were one of the key reasons that supporters were attracted to the League Against Cruel Sports. We have heard rumours of many supporters becoming disillusioned by the current direction and the disappointing lack of strategy at the League. Some have already left, some are on the brink of leaving.
We would like to be a solution to this problem and to cover wildlife issues at a national level. This does require financial support but we won’t be asking just yet. We feel that we have to prove ourselves first and let supporters judge for themselves. We hope that you will follow us on this journey.
https://www.facebook.com/thewildlifeguardian
https://twitter.com/wlguardian
*The Wildlife Guardian has in the past been critical of the League Against Cruel Sports, this will continue to be the case when appropriate – Wildlife Guardian Editor
