;)
Bulletin of the Animal Cruelty
Investigation Group January 2019
Leveret killed by the Easton Harriers, November 14th 2018
EASTON HARRIERS
NOVEMBER 14TH 2018
My photograph shows a leveret (young hare) killed by the
Easton Harriers following their meet at Kersley Hall near Stradbroke on
Wednesday November 14th. I was pleased to join local hunt saboteurs and
monitors who had taken time off work to attend. It was a sunny, windy and mild
day, sadly too windy to fly our newly purchased drone (more about this item
later in this bulletin). There is a square box of roads around the meet and
with the area criss-crossed with footpaths hunt saboteurs and monitors on foot
had easy access. Hounds were soon seen to riot in every direction in hot
pursuit of a variety of animals.
I was equipped with a hunting horn to try and protect our
wildlife by stopping the hounds and still and video cameras to record any
incident. At one point, some hounds were seen spattered with blood – a sure
sign that despite our best efforts they had killed an unfortunate creature. Our
local hunts always claim that such kills are ‘accidents’, that they have laid trails
for their hounds to follow and they must have inadvertently set off after live
quarry and killed before they could be stopped. Against that theory we see them
putting their hounds into fields that are clearly holding hares and then
hanging so far back that they cannot see what their hounds are pursuing.
Usually after a kill they either pack up and go home or at the very least are very
careful about where they put their hounds for the rest of the day.
Not so this time. Soon after this kill the hounds were cast
again into a field of sugar beet – just the sort of field likely to hold hares.
I was in a surveillance position nearby and could not actually see the consequences,
but I heard the frantic shouts from my colleagues over the radio – firstly that
hounds were hunting and then, very quickly, that they had killed, again. It was
early afternoon. I drove round to the scene. One of the young hunt saboteurs
had bravely rushed in amongst the hounds to pull the hare from their jaws. She
might still have been alive but sadly had died. Hunters are often very
aggressive at such times as they seek to retrieve their victims and hide them
from public view. I took the picture above of the dead hare cradled like a baby
in the arms of the young saboteur. She was soft and still warm, and her blood
flecked her fur. Some hunters found it amusing that the saboteurs were so
upset.
The whole incident highlighted the inadequacies of the
Hunting Act. For hunting to be illegal we have to show that a person we could
identify saw that his hounds were hunting live quarry and encouraged those
hounds to hunt that live quarry. No kill was necessary for it to be illegal but
there did have to be clear intent to hunt. This incident all happened so fast –
the hounds were put into the field, the hare ran the wrong way and was killed.
Old school hunters would have said she was ‘chopped’. There was no time for the
hunt saboteurs to intervene to save the hare nor any time to prove that any
hunter realising what was happening encouraged the hounds to hunt that hare.
The Hunting Act urgently needs to be both strengthened and
enforced. The many loopholes that hunters have exploited need to be closed.
This can only be done by a sympathetic Government. Our police need to be
ordered quite simply to enforce the law. They do it regarding hare coursing and
they need to be told to do it when it comes to hunting wildlife with packs of hounds.
Whenever the next election we need to ensure that our voice for animals is both
loud and clear.
I returned home depressed and frustrated and posted this
status update on my Facebook page along with my photograph of the dead hare:
“I am outraged and could
cry with frustration and anger. I and my colleagues from local hunt saboteurs
tried so hard. We saved some hares today but could not save them all. This
young leveret was killed at around 1.30pm. My picture shows her in the arms of
the young sab who tried to save her. It was so sad to see her warm soft fur
stained with her own blood. This is the front line of animal protection in the
UK. Please support your local sabs and buy my books so that I have the funding
to help. Thank you.”
At the time of writing that post had received 2100 reactions
and had been shared some 1800 times on Facebook. The combination of hunt
saboteurs determined to retrieve the body and the wide reach of social media
ensured that the killing of that young hare did not pass unnoticed.
WILDLIFE
PROTECTION
During the current hunting season I have been hard at work
with colleagues protecting our wildlife from illegal hunting. Local hunt
saboteurs had been out much earlier than me but my season started at 6:20 am on
Saturday September 15th when I left home to join colleagues at the meet of the
Waveney Harriers at Thorington. We walked the footpaths and drove about
checking everywhere but could find no sign of any hunt. It later transpired
that they met at 4:30pm that day for some late afternoon cubhunting (or Autumn
trailhunting as they now term it).
My first encounter with a hunt this season was on the early
morning of Tuesday October 2nd when, after a tip-off, I found the Suffolk
Foxhounds and Waveney Harriers in a joint meet at Chediston near Halesworth. I
parked in a layby and was filming and photographing the hunt from distance as
they drew through crops and along hedge lines. The adjacent B-road was busy
with traffic heading for work and taking kids to school.
I then saw a creature run at speed away from the hedge line
towards and over the road. I initially thought it was a hound setting off after
a fleeing hare. I heard a bang as the creature was struck by a car on the road.
I then observed a red-coated rider, probably the whipper in, ride up, dismount
and drag the stricken animal from the road. I saw it to be a Muntjac deer. The
whipper-in lay the deer on his side by the field edge, out of sight from the
road, drew his knife out and slashed at the throat of the deer – effectively finishing
him off. It was soon after 9am.
The hunters moved on and when they were out of the way I walked
forward to find the body of the deer. His throat had been more than merely cut,
his head was almost severed from his body.
That evening I posted a picture of the dead deer on my
Facebook page (with the shocking extent of the injuries concealed so as not to
disturb people) along with the following report:
“Collateral damage at
a hunt. I was tipped off about a hunt, believed to be the Suffolk Foxhounds, meeting
at Chediston this morning. I drove out and soon observed them drawing crops and
hedgerows, a field from a busy road. It was no surprise when a Muntjac deer,
disturbed by the hounds, fled across the road. From a few hundred yards away I
heard the bang of the impact as it was struck by a car. The whipper-in then
dispatched the deer by cutting his throat and dumped the body. The deer was
still warm when I found him and took this picture. What of the damage to the
car? What of the dangers to the occupants if they had swerved to avoid the deer
and hit oncoming traffic? This all happened far too quickly for me to intervene
but we need to be aware that the threats from hunts take many forms.”
TROPHY HUNTING
In
response to widespread media outrage last Autumn over the trophy killing of
goats and sheep on the Isle of Islay in Scotland by US hunter, and TV
presenter, Larysa Switlyk, I posted the following comment on Facebook on
October 26th:
“Some
thoughts on the Trophy hunting debate. The pastime is defended with the claim
that with natural predators gone the population needs to be culled. Who killed
the natural predators and why? Does the population need to be limited by
killing (culled)? There are humane alternatives. Deer populations can and have
been humanely controlled by the use of contraceptive baits but for so long as
people are prepared to pay big bucks to kill - that will continue. Let's
consider the actual killing. When someone is
paying to kill there will be great pressure on the accompanying guide to allow
them to take a shot at extreme range, or in poor light, because they paid so
much for that day. That risks wounding. The professional stalker would simply
go home if conditions were bad and try another day. Finally, think of the term.
It is Trophy hunting - the killing of the biggest and the best - the exact
opposite of what is required once you choose the killing option to manage a
population”
SICKNESS IN HARES
In the Autumn we started seeing reports of sick hares being
sighted in our part of East Anglia. Some were photographed with lesions around
their eyes and ears similar to those seen in rabbits affected by myxomatosis. Conservationists
feared that a highly infectious disease such as Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease-2
or Myxomatosis might have ‘jumped’ from rabbits to hares, or the hares could be
suffering from European Brown Hare Syndrome. The Hare Preservation Trust appealed
for help to monitor the situation.
In the circumstances it would seem eminently sensible and
humane for the local hunts to stop putting their hounds into fields that are on
occasion well stocked with hares. Whatever the hunters intended the almost
certain consequence would be that hares would be moved around and those that
might be hunted could, if not killed, end up far from their starting point. What
better way to spread a highly infectious disease amongst the hare population?
DRONE SURVEILLANCE
I have for some time told colleagues, and explained at my
talks, just how useful a drone would be for our surveillance work. The ability
to see, film and photograph an installation or event on the ground without having
to be there in person and instead being almost unnoticed at height is priceless.
Well, a few months back I was contacted by a supporter with
the marvellous news that an anonymous benefactor had offered to pay the full cost
of any drone that I had in mind. I immediately sought the advice of hunt saboteur
colleagues with experience at using drones and bought the model that they
recommended.
I then found that to make the best use of the drone I would
have to significantly upgrade my mobile phone – that links to the drone and
gives me a camera-eye view of what the drone sees. That necessitated more
detailed research to purchase the right model phone. I am now learning to fly our
drone.
Before purchase I was not aware that you cannot fly a drone
in either rain or high winds. Given that we live on one of the highest parts of
the flat lands of East Anglia I have become used to my drone reporting the wind
strength as too high and asking to be returned to base. I have taken it with me
to several hunts, but it has to be flown for a specific purpose and in the
right conditions, so it has yet to be used at a hunt, but I have used it for
local hare coursing surveillance. You can see a lot of our countryside from 100m
up!
Of course, with the reports of drones being used near
airport the merest use of a drone attracts suspicion – so I take great care to
only use it lawfully, sensibly and in accordance with all guidelines.
When I think of the cameras that I had to use for my animal
welfare work when I first started some 5 decades ago the progress has been
truly astonishing. We now have concealed body cameras that are all but
invisible; cameras that can be buried in the ground and hidden in woods; cameras
that can film in darkness; cameras with powerful telephoto lenses and now
cameras that can film from the skies above – up to the legal limit of 400 feet.
Where next with all this technology?
INTERNET SECURITY
There has been a spate of strange emails that appear to come
from me but do not. If you receive a weird email purporting to come from me,
please do not open any link in it. My genuine emails are obvious.
CLIMATE CHANGE
I studied Ecology at University College London from 1972-75,
years before the subject became fashionable. The lessons then were that all in
our natural world is connected, that there is cause and effect within and
between species of plants and animals and their environment. The concept of a 'tipping
point' was around, the point beyond which change is irreversible. An analogy
would be that once the Titanic had hit the iceberg and sustained the damage she
did, she was going to sink. Everyone on board could have rushed about baling water
out but it would have been to no avail, she would sink. We saw the tipping
point ahead, the iceberg if you like for our good ship Earth, we could have
done something but chose to do nothing, or very little. What makes me cry with
sadness is that what will come is no fault of the animals and no fault of the
infants around today - but they will suffer the consequences. For our todays we
have stolen their tomorrows.
As climate change fears appear frequently in the media, I
posted this on Facebook on January 9th 2019:
“When it comes to Climate
change I always say that we have known of the threat for decades - but done
little to nothing. Here is a song from 1970. The lyrics are haunting but 1970
was the height of the Vietnam war and the Cold war, we were too busy killing each
other and squabbling over politics to fret too much over the destruction of our
planet.
No blade of grass grows and birds
sing no more
No joy or laughter where waves
wash the shore
Gone all the answers, lost all we
have won
Gone is the hope that life will
go on
No fragrant springtime and no
autumn gold
Summer and winter, the heart now
grows cold.
Dreams that we lived for all have
to go
Gone with the dawn that we’ll
never know
When we were younger the earth
was green
When we were children the ocean
was clean
Flowers were blooming, trees
straight and tall
The sky was blue when we were
small
We circled Mars and we walked on
the moon
We reached the stars or one day
very soon
But no blade of grass here and no
blue above
No you and me, it’s the end of
life
Roger Whittaker 1970”
HUNTERS’ EXCUSES
This hunting season has been notable both for incidents of
outrageous cruelty to wildlife by hunters caught on film and by increasing
aggression and violence shown by hunters towards those who strive to protect
our wildlife. Sadly, such incidents are by no means new – they have happened
for decades – and as a result the hunters have perfected the variety of excuses
they offer whenever they are caught in a media storm. As a guide to prepare our
side for the range of excuses offered by hunters, I posted this on my Facebook
page on January 7th 2019:
“As hunters come under
increasing pressure for their outrageous behaviour here is a guide to their
usual responses over the years.
The alleged incident never
happened.
If the incident was
filmed then the film was faked.
If the film was not
faked then the people in the film are unknown to the hunt, complete strangers
who have never been seen before.
If people in the film
can be recognised as known hunt supporters, then they did it without the Huntsman,
or Masters, knowing anything about it.
If it was a Huntsman
or Master in the film then he did it entirely on his own account without anyone
else in the hunt knowing and it was an isolated occurrence that has never
happened before and the person responsible had a breakdown.
If there was a fox in
an artificial earth an anti put him there.
If there was a fox in
a shed at the hunt kennels an anti put him there.
If hounds hunt a fox
or hare antis made them do it.
If hounds cross a road
after a fox or hare antis made them do it.
If hounds trespass over
private land it is only because antis made them do it.
Whenever a hunt
supporter punches an anti it is only because the hunt supporter was defending
himself/children/hounds/horses (choose as appropriate).
Finally, when bad
behaviour cannot be denied then any hunter willing to take sole responsibility
will be publicly punished by the hunt authorities – but suitably rewarded in
due course.
This is why it is
easier to nail a (vegan) jelly to a ceiling than get a hunter convicted either
in legal court or media court.
As for the police,
Countryside Law is simple: the hunt can do no wrong and the anti-hunt can do no
right.
No-one ever claimed
that protecting our wildlife would be easy.”
REAL PHOTOGRAPHS
Some
thoughts about fake photographic images. With digital photographs it is possible
with editing software to add or remove objects or people from an image. It is
easy to change perspectives, colours and every part of an image. Back in the
old days when photographers used 35mm film the prints could be retouched or
camera tricks could be performed such as double exposures or the use of filters
on the camera lens such as soft focus or starburst but the negative itself was
inviolate and there for examination. This is important when it comes to proving
that images of cruelty are not faked. The film I usually used was 35mm, either negatives
or slides. The film was a strip of (usually 36) images. It was loaded into the
camera, exposed in the camera and then processed. I still have all the original
films that I used for my undercover work from 1981-1983 and 1989-1993 and they
can be checked if the authenticity of the images that I took then is ever
challenged. Black and white negatives were usually kept in strips of 6 images. The
numbered sequence of each negative is clear. The negative strips can be
recombined to prove they are a genuine sequence. Whilst the slides were usually
returned by the processor in individual mounts they can be broken out of those
mounts and recombined to prove the sequence – and again each image was numbered.
The actual original film could not be tampered with without changes being
obvious. I have always said that if anyone challenged the authenticity of my
undercover images, I would happily submit my films for independent forensic
examination – with the costs to be paid by the challengers. That offer remains
on the table.
BARONESS
TRUMPINGTON
Back in April 1981 I started working for the LACS as Press
Officer. That was a good time for the LACS with great work colleagues, a great
Executive Committee and great teams of volunteers helping. I recall many of the
big media stories from the time and the utterings of a certain Baroness
Trumpington stuck in my mind – not least because we had lived near the village
of Trumpington. After her death last November, I researched back issues of Cruel
Sports and posted this observation on Facebook on November 28th 2018:
“The passing of Baroness
Trumpington reminds me of a comment piece in the LACS magazine Cruel Sports Number
8 October 1982. The Baroness had suggested our military clear the many mines
left on the Falkland Islands following the war with Argentina by driving sheep
over the area to detonate the mines. The sheep would be killed outright or maimed
then killed but it would be quicker than having mine clearance soldiers do the
job. The proposal caused outrage. She later explained: "My point was that
sheep could be put out of their misery and eaten, whereas men could not."
A Daily Mirror reader pointed out “It won’t work because the animals are too
light. I suggest she goes herself. She looks heavy enough for the job.””
TALKS AND STANDS
Since
our last News Bulletin I am pleased to have spoken at the following events. On
Friday August 24th I gave an illustrated talk at a fundraising event in
Sheffield for Sheffield Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA). I then stayed
overnight in Sheffield and spoke the following evening at a meeting of the East
Yorkshire Coast HSA in Scarborough. Finally, on Friday September 28th I spoke
at an Animal Rights evening held at the Animals in Need sanctuary near
Wellingborough. All my talks were well received by enthusiastic audiences and I
sold many copies of both Outfoxed Take Two
and Outfoxed Again.
As
a new technique I have recently filmed a talk at home to my video camera and have
posted the resulting file on a flash drive to a colleague. If that works well it
will open new opportunities for me to give talks in distant parts, even abroad,
without my having to attend in person.
On
Sunday December 9th I was pleased to run a stand for the ACIG and the AWIS at
the Animal Aid Christmas Fayre at Kensington Town Hall. I was given the stand
by a supporter who had hired it for her own group but then found herself unable
to attend the event so very generously gave it to me. It was, as always, a marvellous
event packed with enthusiastic compassionate people and I had great fun
explaining our work today to friends old and new.
FELDBERG TAPES
DIGITISED
A
major project that I have undertaken has been to copy the original tapes from
our investigation into vivisection at the National Institute for Medical
Research in London from 1989 to 1990. You may recall that our work then ended
the burning of cats and rabbits by Professor Feldberg and his colleague John Stean.
The original tapes amounted to some 40 hours shot on either VHS or SVHS tapes.
Well, such tapes inevitably become brittle with age. If they break, they can be
repaired but it is expensive and when a tape has broken once it can easily
break again. The body of the tape can also break down with age – and we are talking
about tapes that are now 29 years old!
I
have slowly and methodically converted these tapes first to DVD (for additional
security) and then to computer files. All are now safely stored. It was painstaking
work as it had to be done in real time and monitored to ensure that all was
well, and no tapes were sticking. The whole archive can now be stored on a
single flash drive.
This
is important work as it not only preserves this valuable investigation but also
makes this work easily accessible- it is no problem to post flash drives around
this country and indeed around the world.
FACEBOOK CAMPAIGNING
As
you will see from the many references in this bulletin, I do a lot of campaigning
work on Facebook. As well as pushing forwards my own ideas I also support and
advise others on Facebook. Every Saturday evening or Sunday morning I look for
the reports of the efforts by hunt saboteurs across the country and abroad to
protect wildlife. I remain in awe of their determination and courage. On
October 7th I posted the following message on my Facebook page:
“A shout out for our hunt saboteurs. Week in
and week out, at all hours of day and night, they put themselves in harm’s way
to protect our wildlife. They all do so as volunteers. They work hard at usual
jobs and give freely of their money and their spare time to oppose animal
abusers. They face down aggression, threats and violence. They have been
severely injured and even killed. Saboteurs face all this with good humour,
tolerance and benevolence. It is saboteurs, not hunters, who block busy roads
to shield horses and hounds. Whereas hunters have ignored pleas to get help for
a dying saboteur, whenever a hunter is injured or needs help the sabs are often
the first to step forward. Saboteurs are loathed by legal authorities and
mocked in the media but we know compassion when we see it. Sabs save lives and
deserve our support.”
On
another topic I saw this report in a recent issue of our local Community News.
“It is with sadness I report the passing of
Marge Chapman on 16th September 2018 aged 94. Before moving to Bungay in later
years she previously lived at The Mink Farm, Abbey Road, Flixton. She was born
in London and during the war was a firefighter. She met Harry after the war
when he was working in Dagenham. They got married and took over Harry’s fathers
farm. Later they had a mink farm near Bolton. Marge fell ill with asthma and
was advised to move from the moors. So they moved to Flixton and ran first a Mink
Farm here and then changed to a Pig farm when fur became unfashionable. Harry
died tragically in 2002. I remember Marge as a lover of animals with cats and
dogs.”
It
prompted me to write the following post on Facebook on December 12th:
“This
cutting from our local Community News shows that it is not simply a matter of
compassion v cruelty. There are a multitude who like some animals but will
gleefully profit from the abuse of others. Here we have a former mink and pig
farmer who was "a lover of animals with cats and dogs". Plenty of
hunters and shooters take the same view. Compassion needs to be all embracing -
all species and all of our species.”
When
I am not working out in the fields much of my time at home is spent scanning
old negatives and slides to computer and then posting them on Facebook and
Twitter with an accompanying report to explain the image.
TWITTER
Whilst
my Facebook page remains my prime outlet for campaigning work, I do still post
material on Twitter and am gradually building up a following there. If you are
also on Twitter, please look out for my tweets! Thank you.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
You are welcome to quote anything in our literature or on our web site.
PUBLICITY
We cannot afford to pay to advertise
our work so instead rely on the personal recommendation of supporters. Do
please tell your friends and colleagues about the work that we currently do to
investigate, inform and educate; tell them about our many successes in the past
and encourage them to support us. We particularly seek regular support that can
now be given by bank standing order or via the likes of PayPal (using the ‘donate’
button on our web site). Please note that it is only when paying through a bank
that what you pay matches what we receive. Agencies such as PayPal that take payments
through a credit card obviously charge a fee.
If you receive a paper news bulletin
do please pass it on when you have read it. If you receive an email version of
our bulletin please feel free to forward it to friends or colleagues who you
think might support our work.
USE OUR RESOURCES
We currently hold some of the most
extensive resources of animal rights information in existence. We have two
books – Outfoxed Take Two and Outfoxed Again – in stock and available
for sale. We also hold a large library of books in the AWIS archive that are
available to source material from or to borrow. These books are written by both
our side and by our opponents. The AWIS archive also holds an extensive collection
of animal rights magazines including a complete set of HOWL magazines (the
magazine of the Hunt Saboteurs Association). If you seek information from any particular
magazine, I would be happy to scan it and send it to you. Our visual archive
includes thousands of negatives and slides and many hours of video tapes. Do
please make use of these resources – and tell others, particularly students and
the media, of their availability.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
For reasons outlined on page 8 we
are not a charity. We receive no financial aid or grant support from Government
or from any funding trust. We are entirely dependent on the financial support
we receive from our supporters and literally every penny counts. Thank you. We
particularly appreciate regular monthly support as it allows us to plan our expenditure.
You will note that we never bombard supporters with pleas for donations – some groups
spend all the money you give them sending you begging letters asking for even
more money. That is not how we work. We use donations where you want to see
them used – working for animals.
LEGACY SUPPORT
When it comes to your final gift
your family obviously comes first but beyond that if you are considering giving
to the causes that you support I hope that you will remember our work. We have
a proven track record of success that extends back many years. It is legacy
income that allows us to purchase major items such as vehicles for our work or
maybe even rent or purchase an information centre. I would be delighted to
identify any major purchase as acquired through a legacy gift from any named
person.
SMALL UNWANTED ITEMS THAT CAN BE SOLD
TO RAISE FUNDS
These
remain a constant source of funds and are greatly appreciated. We seek small
easy to post items that can be sold either on stalls or through the likes of
Ebay to raise funds for our work. Such items include coins and currency notes,
old and new, foreign and UK and items of unwanted and broken jewellery.
POSTAGE
STAMPS
Donating
books or strips of mint postage stamps is a very effective way of supporting our
work. The more we are given the fewer that we have to buy and at 58p for each
standard letter second class stamp they are expensive.
EYES
AND EARS
Do
please pass on any tip-offs that you may hear about cruelty taking place near
you. If we cannot react to it ourselves, we will pass it on to colleagues near
you who may be able to help. You are welcome to contact us by phone (please
leave a message if you get our answerphone), or by email or Facebook message.
LIKE
MANY CAMPAIGNING GROUPS WE ARE NOT A CHARITY
For
emphasis I have centred the text above. Two of the most common questions from
supporters that I receive are: “Is the ACIG a charity?”, and “Can you claim
Gift Aid?” Neither the ACIG nor the AWIS is a charity so we cannot claim Gift
Aid.
We
have given a lot of thought to and taken legal advice on making one or other,
or perhaps both, of these groups a charity but as yet we have not done so.
Whilst many animal rescue centres are charities most of the large campaigning
animal welfare groups are not. Like them we are at present unwilling to restrict
our campaigning activities which would be the inevitable result of taking on
charitable status. Please do not allow your solicitor to discourage you from
leaving your money to whomsoever you wish, whether they are a charity or not.
LEGACIES
You have seen after many years of
ACIG successes that we have a proven ability to win for animals. For anyone
considering remembering the vital investigation work of the ACIG in their will,
to enable us to continue to achieve, I respectfully suggest using the following
form of bequest:
“I bequeath unto the Animal Cruelty Investigation Group of P.O. Box 8,
Halesworth, Suffolk,
IP19 0JL, the sum of ............................. free of tax and I direct
that the receipt of an authorised officer of the group shall be a good and
sufficient discharge of such legacy.”
I
really hope we can secure the future funding to keep our books in print. For
anyone considering remembering the vital educational and publishing work of the
Animal Welfare Information Service in their will I respectfully suggest using
the following form of bequest:
“I
bequeath unto the Animal Welfare Information Service of P.O. Box 8, Halesworth,
Suffolk, IP19 0JL, the sum of .............................. free of tax and I
direct that the receipt of an authorised officer of the group shall be a good
and sufficient discharge of such legacy.”
IN MEMORIAM
Tragically, far too many working for
animals have suffered appallingly at the hands of abusers. Several have paid
the ultimate price. They will never be forgotten. The memory of their sacrifice
should inspire us all to do much more for the causes that we know to be just.
ALL who give their lives for animals are remembered but we do particularly
recall the following whose lives were taken by our opponents:-
James Piper, RSPCA Inspector: Died
in 1838 after sustaining severe injuries tackling cockfighters at Hanworth,
Middlesex.
William Sweet, LACS member: Murdered
6/1/1976 after altercation with man shooting birds. Assailant was jailed for
life but has long been released.
Fernando Pereira, Greenpeace photographer:
Murdered 10/7/1985 by the French Secret Service when the vessel “Rainbow
Warrior” was sunk by two explosions, Auckland Harbour, New Zealand.
Michael Hill, Hunt Saboteur: Killed
9/2/1991 protesting against hare hunting at the Cheshire Beagles.
Thomas Worby, Hunt Saboteur: Killed
3/4/1993 protesting against fox hunting at the Cambridgeshire Foxhounds.
Jill Phipps, Animal Rights Activist:
Killed 1/2/1995 protesting against live exports of farm animals, Coventry
Airport.
Paola Quartini, animal activist for
LIPU (Italian League for Bird Protection - UK) from Genoa, Italy and Elvio
Fichera, a volunteer for the Association of Abandoned Animals: Both were murdered 12/5/2010 whilst trying,
with police, to serve a warrant on Renzo Castagnola for cruelty to animals.
Renzo Castagnola shot them dead, then injured his wife, then killed himself.
That is it for another bulletin. In
June it will be 30 years since I set up the ACIG. That is 30 years of progress
for animals. Many of you have supported our work all that time. Thank you so
very much and thank you also to all our new supporters. We operate in a rapidly
changing world, but we have adapted and, as our recent drone purchase proves,
we use all the latest technology. Our next bulletin will be written in July.
Enjoy the Spring! Editor, January 2019.
Animal Cruelty Investigation Group, PO Box 8, HALESWORTH, Suffolk. IP19
0JL
E-mail: acig@btinternet.com Web site: www.acigawis.org.uk
