Stan Says:  Voice of Wales didn’t attend a Fox Hunt on Wind Street on Boxing Day – We attended a Hunt who had a human fell runner as the ‘bait’ for the hounds to chaise.

I really am amazed however that lamping & hare coursing goes on throughout the year in Wales unhindered because this is seen as a ‘Poor mans’ Sport (the tearing to bits of 1000’s Wild Hares) and nothing is said.

Where are the ‘Animal Rights and concerned Townies’ in these circumstances’? Hare Coursing, and/or lamping rabbits on private land by people trespassing and destroying crops and fields is a major problem not only because it is cruel but because the trespassers cause £1000’s of pounds damage in the process of this ‘sport’.

To get back to the debate on how we came to have such wonderful Countryside and animal welfare standards is because we control and manage the number in the Countryside.

Foxes
The Red Fox has very few natural predators in Britain. Golden eagles and Sea Eagles are known to hunt cubs, but have a negligible effect on overall fox numbers. Foxes have adapted to modern farming practices and often come into conflict with farmers, gamekeepers and other land users, resulting in the need to control numbers

RABBIT
Rabbits are serious pests of crops costing British agriculture millions of pounds in lost yields every year.

GREY SQUIRREL
The Grey squirrel is a non-native species, introduced to Britain as an ornamental addition to parks around Stately Homes. It is bigger than the native Red Squirrel and carries Squirrel Pox, a disease which is lethal to Red Squirrels. Since the introduction Grey Squirrels have impacted severely on Red Squirrels, threatening their existence as a wild animal.
They are a major pest of commercial Forestry and Woodlands, stripping bark, eating growing tips, killing and stunting the growth of the crop.

CARRION CROW
Very intelligent birds, eating anything they can kill including other birds, rabbits and new born lambs.

ROOK
A communal bird that lives in large flocks and is a major pest of newly drilled or sprouting crops. Rooks pull seeds out of the soil by holding onto the leading shoot and pulling them out as it germinates. They will also and feed off mature cereals, especially where cereals are wind-blown. Control entails shooting using decoys or population control at nesting sites (Rookeries)

BADGER
Bovine TB has a devastating effect on many farm businesses and families. Last year 25,000 cattle were slaughtered because of the disease, and it cost the taxpayer over £63 million in England alone.

The United Kingdom has some of the best farm land in the world because we allow farmers to manage it. This includes the culling of ‘vermin’ like Badgers & Foxes in a controlled way. Countryside and environmental management often has to include population control of species that pose a threat to crops, livestock, poultry, trees and property.

Additionally, Country Sports employ 1000s of people. All this gives us the wonderful farmlands and countryside we have today. Its time to stop the attack on our farmers and Countryside sports who have for centuries looked after animals, wildlife and countryside without ‘townie’ interference.