It has been reported that one of Britain’s biggest vegan events has become embroiled in a bitter row between animal rights’ extremists and two of the country’s oldest nature charities: WWF and the RSPB.
The Hunt Saboteurs Group, who have previously had members arrested for turning up at a shoot in the uplands attended by Sir Ian Botham wielding a knife, leafleted a recent Vegan Market event calling on the public to shun the WWF and RSPB’s stalls.
The Hunt Saboteurs Group, who ironically have previously boasted of their support from RSPB’s Vice President Chris Packham, claimed in a statement: ‘The RSPB employs bloodsports enthusiasts to kill wildlife. In one year they killed 598 foxes…The RSPB [claim] they are giving wildlife a home, then killing it.”
It seems the Hunt Saboteurs are unaware of the many other species the RSPB kill each year, including domestic cats, as part of their, largely ineffective, predation management efforts.
In a response the RSPB said: “We are transparent about why it is sometimes necessary [to use lethal predation management] as we try to protect and restore some of the UK’s most threatened wildlife and habitats.”
Given the RSPB’s atrocious record in many reserves, such as Lake Vyrnwy and Orkney, of protecting endangered species, it would seem their futile efforts to protect nature are failing to achieve either the balance in nature that they claim to strive for or indeed any acceptance or support from the animal rights groups.
Instead, by continuously inciting hostility against private land managers in the sporting community for being ‘more intensive’ they are attempting to deflect attention away from their own failing efforts at conservation management.
As every conservationist can tell you, you can either protect nature by exercising necessary predation management controls, and see the success stories with endangered species or you can try and win the support of groups like the Hunt Saboteurs. You can’t do both. Honesty is never seen sitting astride the fence.