Three members of the Crawley And Horsham Hunt have been found guilty of illegal fox hunting, click here for itv video report.
Crueltyexposed welcomes the recent conviction's and justice has been served. Hunting a wild mammal with dogs is illegal.
Fears for badgers on Norfolk Estate, Arundel, West Sussex - in the new South Downs National Park.
Campaigners from the National Anti Snaring Campaign www.antisnaring.org.uk have begun a serious of protests at Arundel Castle, and are planning a march through the town to highlight the Duke of Norfolk's use of snares on his estate. Banners stating "Conservation Frauds" are intended to highlight concerns that badger populations on areas snared and shot over appear way down on what should be expected.
Last summer Badger Trust, West Sussex wrote to the Duke of Norfolk, alerting him to evidence that a badger had been snared just south of the South Downs Way on Norfolk estate land. This incident was discovered after a dog walker alerted Trust members to the snares when her dog had run off. Badger hairs and a vast disturbance around a metal pole used to anchor the snare were found.
Correspondence was ignored, but as snares and poles were all removed, it seemed that commonsense had prevailed. However, the snares have returned over a large area of the Norfolk Estate where intensive predator control is taking place due to all out efforts to increase wild “grey partridge” for game shooting.
Anti snaring protests outside Arundel Castle, West Sussex
left: the evidence of a badger having been snared on Norfolk Estate land, near the South Downs Way.
A spokesman for the National Anti Snaring Campaign said: “ There is no hope for our wildlife when snares litter the South Downs National Park.
The Duke of Norfolk is increasing their use in order to allow grey partridges to breed for shooting purposes.The problem is, predator control has to be pretty extreme to allow ground nesting birds to flourish. The snares are anchored to metal poles, a method promoted as ‘kill poles’ in the USA because a struggling animal wraps itself around the snare with fatal consequences.”
As well as snares, Fenn Mk4 traps have been found set in field margins and campaigners have found rabbits still alive probably beecause the traps that are only legal for smaller animals! As well as protests, the NASC are going to challenge the conservation grants the estate receives: the estate having received CAP funds of several hundred thousand pounds.
left: a live rabbit found in a Fenn Mk 4 trap on Norfolk Estate, Arundel . The Spring Traps Approval
Order does not allow the Mk 4 for use on rabbits
