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. The dogs can get their faces torn to shreds as the badger is a fairly tough customer when confronted in its sett. The dog-handler carries a long-handled spade to dig the badger out of its sett and put into a box for transportation to a clandestine venue where there is a betting-ring in operation, wagering the outcome of the fight to the death between the dog and 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 TB to 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 20 years, with licences from the National Parks and Wildlife Service to the Department of Agriculture. 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 no danger to the hare at coursing events and we should go and see for ourselves. This, in spite 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. Saint Francis 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 hare coursing or to supply or transport hares to a coursing event. In 21st Century society, we have the responsibility to protect our wild creatures. We must petition the Government to ban this cruelty in the 26 counties. The Irish Hare is a threatened species; it is unique to Ireland and different from the English brown hare. The government should also start legislating for fox-hunting to be replaced by draghunting. We do not wish to prevent the spectacle of horses and hounds and the sound of the horns or the sight of the red and black uniforms of the rider, but they should be following 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 revisited in the lifetime of the present government." He said he would not give up his fight to have the ban reversed. He has a staunch ally in this endeavour in Environment Minister Phil Hogan. R.I.S.E. (Rural Ireland Says Enough) got a written guarantee from Fine Gael before 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 Ward Union will look for any loophole in the legislation to defeat the ban on stag hunting. They are 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 obtained for venison. Deer poaching is out of control in Wicklow and Kerry. The Irish Council against Blood Sports was originally founded in 1966 to campaign against bullfighting. 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. Why do they have to kill the bull at the end if not to satisfy the blood lust of the spectators? The killing of the bull is revolting, sadistic and grotesque. "Bulls in the street" festivals also continue. In 2011, many were injured while in the process of taunting bulls charging along narrow streets of towns and villages. At least one man was gored to death having taunted a bull with an umbrella. The latest news is that Ecuador, a former colony of Spain in South America has banned bullfighting after 500 years of the practice. Bullfighting in Ecuador was the pastime of the descendants of the former Spanish ruling class. It was never taken up by the native indigenous Ecuadorians. There is also a movement in Mexico to ban bullfighting there. We must be vigilant and keep up the effort to 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 Ecuador recently. It is worth mentioning that greyhounds are also vulnerable to injury in hare coursing events. Our dogs, man's best friend and woman's too, need to be protected. There is a plan to export Irish greyhounds to South East Asian countries where animal welfare and animal 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 may be illegal, e.g. China, it is the criminal underworld who run the clandestine greyhound racing tracks. Even in Ireland because of the recession, old greyhounds retired from racing are being left to fend for themselves after being abandoned by their owners. In South East Asia, 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 the Cromwellian 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 being used in foxhunting. Also, when horses get past their use-by-date, they are now being abandoned because of the recession and the cost of maintaining them. This should be cracked down upon by the authorities. Unemployed teenagers get great enjoyment from looking after their ponies and the animal welfare groups should encourage this and provide welfare for the horses and give training to 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

unemployed urban youth from disadvantaged areas. This would solve the abandoned horse 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 horse management 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 Finglas would be the example and template to follow. The Bible tells us "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and "Love they neighbour". The animal kingdom is our neighbour. An increasingly more prevalent term now in vogue is the word "cull". Cull means to kill and even exterminate in some cases. So we are told that we must exterminate so-called invasive species such as the brown English hare, the grey squirrel and feral mink. This is unacceptable and gives hunters carte blanche to carry on a pogrom 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 is making a come back in the west of Ireland after near extinction by over hunting and poisoning. There is a huge controversy at the time of writing concerning the issuing of gun licences by the Gardai to shooters and hunters. Sika deer, fox and mink are allowed to be culled. Killing defenceless animals is no sport as far as I am concerned. It is simply a lust for blood or money. In Africa, elephants and rhino are being slaughtered on an unprecedented 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 to death in an orgy of blood letting. The Japanese still continue in spite of the 1986 moratorium 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 West Passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Fin whales, the second largest living mammal were 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 of airports even thought all birds are protected by EU law. They are regarded as vermin and pests by the Department of the Environment and allowed to be shot. Surely there should be some less lethal method of scaring birds, our feathered friends, away from airports and crops. Did Phil Hogan never hear of the scarecrow? Could the Department of the Environment not come up with a 21st Century high tech scarecrow for this purpose with a flashing light and emitting sound vibrations audible only to birds? It is sad that so many human beings have no other way to entertain and enjoy themselves than shooting wild duck, pheasant, grouse and geese almost to extinction. The recent controversy in the Gardai over the issuing of gun licences to hunters and shooters shows that the number of applicants has gone through the roof.

Bird Watch Ireland recently reported poisoned, tethered pigeons were used to lure and poison two wild buzzards near Roscrea. It is illegal to use poison to kill birds. The effort to reintroduce the Golden Eagle, white-tailed eagle and Red Kite back in to Ireland has been plagued by poisoning incidents particularly in Kerry. Unscrupulous farmers were leaving 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 were released recently in North Dublin as part of a larger programme to reintroduce the native species to Ireland. While the curlew, cuckoo and the corncrake are declining in numbers in Ireland, the woodpecker and the bittern are enjoying a comeback. Too many farmers are ignorant on the subject of preservation of habitats and biodiversity on the periphery of their fields and hedgerows and also in wetlands. Intensive farming methods and the switchover from hay making 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 to shoot 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 industrial turf-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 spotted in 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 of Roseate Terns nesting off Skerries in a project to save these birds from extinction due to hunting for their white fathers and industrial fishing techniques. 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 fewer cuckoos migrating to Ireland in recent years. The Irish Grey Partridge is making a comeback in Co Offaly - my mother Ellen's native county - and in North County Dublin near Oldtown where 70 were released recently. Habitat has been provided on three farms along the margins of the headlands of the fields for the Partridge to exploit. However the Irish Red Grouse is being hunted to extinction. On a brighter note, cranes have returned to Ireland after an absence of 300 years. While I live 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 can be seen in the canal and sometimes a cormorant fishing. Noel Gregory

Noel Gregory