Extract from Countryside Alliance grassroots.
You may have read a heavily slanted lead article in Saturday's Independent newspaper, but if not I would like to draw it to your attention. The piece, "The Great Animal Rights Betrayal" was heavily biased, screaming "Millions of hens will have their beaks mutilated; game birds will remain in cages; pigs, sheep and cows in abattoirs will lose crucial protection from abuse; badgers will be culled and lions, tigers and other wild animals will continue to perform in the big top." The article pursued an animal rights agenda that should shame the Independent's alleged liberal sensibilities and contained overtly biased comment such as "Another Conservative proposal - to hold a free vote on overturning the ban on fox hunting - will be fiercely opposed."
Attacking Defra Minister James Paice MP was particularly low. Mr Paice, a farmer, has long been a sound and empathetic champion of rural issues. Within Government he has already had to take tough decisions, often ones which previous urban-based ministers have fought shy of taking. One of the points of attack in the Independent's article was on the 'cage rearing' of game birds, printing accusations of a policy reversal which are simply untrue since no ban was ever in place. As the Countryside Alliance's Rob Gray has subsequently pointed out in a letter to the paper, "James Paice revisited the legislation because the previous government ignored the advice of its own experts". The revised Code of Game Rearing, based on principle and evidence, is now a workable piece of legislation, backed by the Countryside Alliance, the Country Land & Business Association, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Game Farmers' Association and the National Gamekeepers' Organisation. Read Rob Gray's letter and a letter from James Paice MP himself, here.The language of animal rights is shrill, emotive and deeply flawed, which is why the article's accusation of "animal rights betrayal" is no bad thing. The Government should not give oxygen to animal rights extremists and their illogical demands. We are all strong champions of animal welfare, not animal rights, and in a week where the League Against Cruel Sports declared "The only 'population management' on our land is by Mother Nature," we are glad to have a Minister who can tell the difference.
Alice Barnard, Chief Executive Countryside Alliance
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