Controversy in the UK Over Plans to Wipe Out the Ruddy Duck

A debate raged this summer in the United Kingdom over the government’s plan to completely eradicate the UK population of the ruddy duck.

The ruddy duck is an American species of duck that was imported into Europe during the 1940s and established itself in the wild in the early 1950s after an accidental release. Currently there are an estimated 3,000 to 6,000 of the animals in Great Britain, most of them in Scotland.

The ruddy duck’s problem is that it is too successful in breeding with closely related species, most importantly the white headed duck which is endangered. Spanish authorities, for example, blame ruddy ducks that fly from the UK to Spain for causing the collapse of the white headed duck population there.

The British government has conducted a number of trials over the past few years, paying up to 1,000 pounds per ruddy duck killed. In total, 2,651 ruddy ducks were killed in the trial programs.

Criticism has come on two fronts. First, there are those who point out that at 1,000 pounds per duck the government could ship the ducks back to the United States via first class air travel.

Second, of course, are the animal rights activists. Animal Aid’s Andrew Tyler likened the concern over preserving the white headed duck to racism. He told The Herald (UK),

Obsessively targeting one species of duck whose only crime has been to mate with another amounts to speciesism.

He also told the Times (London),

. . . the whole thing is stomach-churning. This is the first attempt at an avian extermination programme.

Talk about genetic impurity is racist. This is simply what happens in nature; it’s a natural survival mechanism. The scheme is hugely unpopular and when wildlife preservation groups and landowners refuse to co-operate you are going to see government killing gangs forcing themselves on to land.

Animal Aid organized protests on August 13th and 14th against the planned cull. In a press release announcing the protests, Animal Aid Campaigns Officer Becky Lilly calls the plan to kill the ducks “ethnic cleansing”,

It is disgraceful that the government is committed to this morally repugnant and scientifically illogical slaughter programme. It is particularly disturbing that top-table conservation groups such as the RSPB and the WWT are the main movers for this scheme. They should be focussing their efforts on saving animals and their habitat rather than promoting ethnic cleansing projects. Since so much of the slaughter has already taken place in Scotland, we want the Scottish public to know what is being done in their name and with their taxes. We are confident of continued widespread support.

It’s no wonder that the front page of Animal Aid’s web site argues that, “When it comes to illuminating the core issues relating to animal cruelty, sometimes imaginative prose can reach the places straightforward factual argument cannot.” I.e., when you don’t have any straightforward factual arguments, ditch that in favor of this sort of nonsense.

Sources:

Stop killing the ruddy ducks, say wildlife campaigners. Cameron Simpson, The Herald (UK), August 14, 2003.

R.I.P. Ruddy duck. The BBC, March 3, 2003.

Protesters in duck demo. Evening Times (Glasgow), August 14, 2003.

Ruddy Protests Come To Scotland. Press Release, Animal Aid, August 13, 2003.

Animal Rights Activists Target Bullfighting in Barcelona

The World Society for the Protection of Animals and Spain’s Animal Rights Defense Association are targeting Barcelona to convince the city to outlaw bullfight ahead of the 2004 Universal Forum of Culture which Barcelona will host.

The two groups commissioned a survey which found that 63 percent of respondents in Barcelona wanted an end to bullfighting. An earlier study commissioned by the two groups of attitudes about bullfighting in Catalonia as a whole found 94 percent of respondents favored outlawing bullfighting (neither survey is available online, however, so it’s not known exactly what questions the survey asked).

Manuel Cases of the Animal Rights Defense Association told Australian newspaper The Age,

At the end of the 19th century there were three bullrings in Barcelona, now there is just one left. That has bullfights on Sunday from May to October but mostly for people who come in tourist buses from the Costa Brava.

Philip Lymbery of the World Society for the Protection of Animals said in a press release,

Bullfighting is abhorrent to many people internationally. This new survey shows that the majority of people in Barcelona agree that bullfighting has nothing to do with culture and everything to do with cruelty. It is ironic then, that a city that allows over 100 bulls to be ritually tortured and killed as entertainment annually will next year host the Universal Forum of Culture. We therefore urge Barcelona to ban bullfighting and thereby avoid tainting the spirit of this international cultural event.

Catalonia’s animal welfare law forbids the fighting of animals but specifically exempts bullfights that take place on public holidays.

Bullfighting is popular in Spain in general, but not in the Catalonia region. According to the World Society for the Protection of Animals, for example, only about 100 bulls are killed annually in bullfights in Barcelona. This out of an estimated 20,000+ bulls killed annually in bullfights throughout the country.

Sources:

Survey reveals Spanish opposition to bullfighting in Barcelona. Press Release, World Society for the Protection of Animals, April 4, 2003.

Majority of people in Catalonia, Spain, opposed to bullfighting, according to a new survey released today. Press Release, World Society for the Protection of Animals, March 22, 2002.

ALF/ELF Attack Spanish Mink Farm

The Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front took responsibility for a January 15, 2003 fire at a fur farm in Spain.

In a communique about the incident, the extremists responsible discuss how they first visited the site in 2002. Because there were dogs in the area where they wanted to firebomb, they settled for using bolt cutters to break into the area where the mink sheds were. When they entered the sheds, however, the cages were empty.

The communique continues,

Of course we returned some weeks later with a new plan. There was no wall, no fence or security strong enough to stop our determination in ending this aggression to the earth or to life.

Our second visit was a success and as we got closer to the farm we saw a group of hinds and deer gracing peacefully in the fields near the farm. We parked the vehicle in the same place as the first time and we went to Austwitch with four cans of kerosene. To get inside we used the same holes that were made the first time, we climbed the wall and we marked on it the exit holes with branches in case of possible problems. We ignited the incendiary devices and we took some photos.

A black cloud of smoke from the farm could be seen some miles away (the moon was near to full).

Whoever wrote that concludes with a flourish that the arson was “dedicated” to “the palestinian people . . . and Barry Horne.”

Source:

Spanish Mink Farm Fire – Communique! Arkangel, March 25, 2003.

Group Wants an End to Hanging of Dogs

The World Society for the Protection of Animals recently highlighted its call for a national animal protection law in Spain by turning the spotlight on a gruesome practice — the hanging of greyhounds.

The WSPA claims that every year thousands of greyhounds are hanged after the conclusion of the annular hare-coursing season. The dogs are then dumped in shallow graves or rubbish piles.

Spain has no national animal protection law and its regional laws are spotty at best. In at least two parts of Spain, Andalucia and Extremadura, there are no animal protection laws and hanging greyhounds is not a crime.

Other regions do have animal protection laws, including laws that specifically forbid the hanging of greyhounds, but they are not rigorously enforced. According to the WPSA, for example, not one person has been prosecuted under Castilla y Leon’s law banning the hanging of dogs.

Sources:

Campaigners call on Spain to outlaw hanging of dogs. Elizabeth Nash, The Independent (London), April 29, 2002.

Animal charity uncovers hanging of unwanted greyhounds. Ananova, April 29, 2002.

Spanish Court Rewards Rapist for Being Drunk

In what it Women’s eNews right calls its “Outrage of the Week,” Spain’s Supreme Court recently reduced the sentence of a man convicted of raping a mentally retarded girl. The sentence for the 18-year-old rapist was reduced from 13.5 years to 8 years on the grounds that the man was drunk at the time. Two co-defendants who helped pin the girl down also had their sentences reduced. The Supreme Court ruled,

Having ingested alcoholic beverages throughout the night, the three accused manifested an intellectual capacity that was slightly below average. Taken together, these may be considered to have keenly affected their volitional faculties.

Since the men were drunk, they had a limited capacity to choose not to commit rape! This is absurd. The only thing these men have a limited capacity for is living within the rules of society. What a stupid decision.

Source:

Spanish Rapist’s Sentence Reduced: He Was Drunk. Women’s eNews, December 15, 2001.

Mink Releases in Spain and Holland

Sometime the night of August 1st or the early morning of August 2nd, animal rights activists released 3,000 mink from a fur farm near the Spanish city of Teruel.

The Guardian (London) reported that the mink are an American variety not native to Spain and officials were concerned that the mink might displace local native species. Although Spain is generally too dry to allow the mink to survive very long, local officials told The Guardian that mink who escaped from a farm a decade earlier had set up a small colon on the banks of a nearby river.

Even local ecologists who oppose mink farming were appalled at the action. Teo Oberhuber of Ecologists in Action told The Guardian, “Despite the terrible conditions in which they are kept and the shameful systems employed to kill them, setting the animals free into the wild is an act of gross irresponsibility.

A few weeks later in Holland, activists freed almost 17,000 mink from a farm in Valkenswaard. As of August 24, about 1,500 mink had been recaptured and about 200 ofthe animals had been killed, mostly after being struck by automobiles.

Sources:

Mink ‘liberation’ sparks mass hunt. Ananova, August 24, 2001.

Fur flies as 3,000 mink freed in raid. Giles Tremlett, The Guardian (London), August 2, 2001.