Off the Leash

'Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!

A shortcast with Chris Luffingham, Deputy CEO of the League Against Cruel Sports. Chris recorded this audio in Bath, where he was taking part in a pop-up street campaign against the licencing of so-called trail hunting on National Trust land. As well as discussing the Trust's nonsensical support for hunting, which could finally be ended at their AGM in a few weeks time, Chris reflects on the upcoming verdict on the trial of Mark Hankinson, Director of the Master of Foxhounds Association, who was recently in court charged with intentionally encouraging or assisting others to commit an offence under the Hunting Act 2004.

• League Against Cruel Sports Website
•  League Against Cruel Sports  Twitter feed and Facebook page
• League Against Cruel Sports  How to vote FOR a ban on hunting on National Trust land
• ITV News (Rupert Evelyn)  'His intention was to encourage illegal hunting,' trial of Mark Hankinson hears

An interview with Nick Mole, Policy Officer with the Pesticide Action Network (PAN),  the only UK charity focused solely on tackling the problems caused by pesticides and promoting safe and sustainable alternatives in agriculture, urban areas, homes and gardens. PAN works tirelessly to apply pressure on governments, regulators, policymakers, industry and retailers to reduce the impacts of harmful pesticides to both human health and the environment. Their work includes campaigning for change in policy and practices at home and overseas, coordinating projects which help smallholder farming communities escape ill-health and poverty caused by pesticides, and contributing our wealth of scientific and technical expertise to the work of other organisations that share their aims. 

Charlie Moores spoke with Nick shortly after the release of PAN's latest ‘dirty dozen’ research – an analysis of data the government gathers as it monitors pesticide residue levels in or on food consumed in the UK. It was hard to know where to begin with this interview because it’s genuinely shocking stuff, but Charlie began by asking Nick to start with a quick overview of the government research PAN's analysis was based on…which, despite the already truly disturbing results and if he was understanding things correctly, the government appeared to be cherry-picking to make things seem better – or less bad - than they actually are…

• Pesticide Action Network Website
• Pesticide Action Network Twitter feed and Instagram
• Pesticide Action Network The Dirty Dozen
•  Pesticide Action Network The Cocktail Effect

In a feisty episode (feistier than usual, which is saying something!) we (Dominic especially) turn our ire on the Faroe Islands and the UK's Free Trade Agreement with one of the wealthiest island nations in the world; Defra and its appalling handling of  Bovine Tb and Geronimo in particular; the Charity Commission for leaking a non-event complaint about Operation Ark and Pen Farthing; and the Labour Party for seemingly ignoring animals and wildlife at its Party Conference. In his weekly analysis, Charlie slates the disgusting pheasant-killing season and the appalling shooting industry. In Heroes and Villains, we praise Derbyshire Against the Cull and the League Against Cruel Sports, and slam Sainsbury's and the pesticide industry in the wake of a report by Pesticide Action Network. Finally, we give shoutouts to Dominic's e-petition and next weekend's march against the Grind and Taiji, the Wildlife Trusts for their badger petition, and Leicestershire Against the Cull who are raising funds for a thermal imaging camera. 

• Petition Suspend trade agreement with Faroe Islands until all whale & dolphin hunts end 
• Daily Mirror Supermarkets urged to stop selling Faroe Islands seafood after dolphin slaughter
• The Independent   Geronimo the alpaca’s owner claims new test results show he did not have TB
• ITV News Pen Farthing supporters 'really angry' as Charity Commission examines Afghanistan evacuation effort
• Wild Justice  Today is the opening day of the Pheasant-shooting season
• League Against Cruel Sports   Website, Twitter feed, and Facebook page
• Derbyshire Against the Cull  Twitter feed and Facebook Page
• Pesticide Action Network  The 'dirty dozen'
• Wildlife Trusts Petition  UK Government - speed up badger & cattle vaccinations
• Leicestershire Against the Cull  Thermal Imaging Camera Appeal 

‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!

A shortcast from 'Summer', a full-time climate and animal rights activist with Animal Rebellion the mass movement that uses nonviolent civil disobedience to bring about a transition to a just and sustainable plant-based food system. If you recognise Summer's name you may have heard her recent shortcast on her work with StopHS2 - if not, the link is just below...

• Animal Rebellion  website (animalrebellion.org/)
• Animal Rebellion Twitter feed and Facebook page
• Shortcast #35 'Summer' | StopHS2
• Shortcast #16 Alex Lockwood | 'Planting Value' Report

An interview with Nicola Hodgins, Policy Manager at WDC (Whale and Dolphin Conservation). about the Grind - the killing of Pilot Whales and dolphins in the Faroe Islands.

Our conversation was triggered of course by the unprecedented mass killing of more than 1400 Atlantic White-sided Dolphins by Faroese hunters on September 12th, and the disturbing and heartbreaking images that have gone around the world. 

The Faroese themselves seemed shocked by the scale of the killing, and reaction here in the UK has been profound - disgust, outrage, and a determination to do something - anything - to stop these hunts in their tracks. Petitions have been launched, boycotts of Faeroe-caught fish suggested - yet just a few days later another Grind took place and another 53 Pilot Whales killed. 

Nicola has been working on the Grind for many years and as she says in this interview, much as we might want a quick fix, there really isn't one simple answer, and that it will be a combination of approaches - including dialogue with the Faroese themselves - that will finally stop these hunts for good.

• Whale and Dolphin Conservation Website 
•  Whale and Dolphin Conservation  Twitter feed and Facebook page
• Petition  (WDC and SeaLegacy)  Ask the Faroese Prime Minister Bárður á Steig Nielsen to take a firm regulatory stance against the slaughter of dolphins in the Faroe Islands
• Petition (Gov.uk website)  Suspend trade agreement with Faroe Islands until all whale & dolphin hunts end 
• The Guardian (Sept 14th) Outcry over killing of almost 1,500 dolphins on Faroe Islands

‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!

A shortcast from Luke Steele, executive director of Wild Moors, the organisation that works with communities, governments and companies to unlock an area of moorland the size of Greater London by 2030, moving it from grouse shooting to the conservation of wildlife and habitats for the benefit of all. 

• Wild Moors website - wildmoors.org.uk/
• Wild Moors Twitter feed and Facebook page

TW: this podcast contains strong language and some fairly graphic details. 

An edited selection of speeches recorded at an incredibly inspiring and emotionally powerful protest event held in London outside the Home Office on the 24th of September.  Speakers include Mel, a well-known animal rights activist and hunt saboteur; Dominic Dyer; and Vanessa Hudson of the Animal Welfare Party. Other speakers stepped from the crowd and we don't have their names, but where we do we have used Chapter Markers for clarification.

The protest was held to support #FreetheMBRBeagles, the grassroots campaign to free the MBR Beagles from MBR Acres, a Cambridgeshire-based beagle breeding facility which prepares and supplies beagles to be used - and ultimately to die - in testing facilities. The factory puppy farm breeds up to 2000 beagle puppies every year. At 16 weeks old they are sold to contract testing laboratories across the UK for toxicology testing. The breeding facility and those tests are licenced by the Home Office, a government department headed by the home secretary, a post considered one of the Great Offices of State and held since July 2019 by Priti Patel.

Off the Leash Podcasts has made this podcast to support the campaign. Our platform and our services are 100% free. If we can support your campaign please get in touch with us.  

Please use #FreeTheMBRBeagles if you share this podcast.

What can you do to help? here are some important links:

• Free the MBR Beagles on Facebook and on Twitter 
• Camp Beagle on Facebook and Twitter (visit Camp Beagle at MBR Acres Ltd, Sawtry Way, Huntingdon, PE28 2DT (please bring vegan food with you)
• Sign the online petition "Change the Law to include laboratory animals in the Animal Welfare Act"
• Email your local MP and ask them sign 'EDM 175' (asking for a scientific review of the validity of animal testing).

Charlie Moores in conversation with  Dr Alex Lees, Senior Lecturer in Conservation Biology at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Recently Alex and Dr Jack Shutt published a paper that was widely reported in the mainstream media titled “Killing with kindness: Does widespread generalised provisioning of wildlife help or hinder biodiversity conservation efforts?”  That’s quite a striking headline, isn’t it? Providing for wildlife may be harming species of conservation concern.

The abstract of this paper is even more thought-provoking, “Generalised provisioning is enthusiastically promoted by many conservation organisations as a means to foster connection with nature and help wildlife. However, such a vast input of additional resources into the environment must have diverse, ecosystem-wide consequences….Using a case study of UK garden bird food and nestbox provisioning, we hypothesise how well-intentioned provisioning could be contributing to widespread ecological community change and homogenisation. This may consequently help drive declines in species of conservation concern by asymmetrically benefitting common and adaptable species, leaving their competitors exposed to enhanced direct competition, hyperpredation, mesopredator release and heightened disease transmission risks.”

In very simple terms, then, the paper is asking whether providing wildlife with extra resources like food and nesting sites could be having a negative impact on some declining species – which, if you feed your garden birds like I do, is – well, food for thought…

• Biological Conservation Sept 2021  Killing with kindness: Does widespread generalised provisioning of wildlife help or hinder biodiversity conservation efforts? (Jack D.Shutt and Alexander C.Lees)
• Follow Dr Alex Lees on Twitter
• See also Interview #03 Dr Alex Lees | Conservation vs Animal Rights Activism?

When we started these podcasts we both had a slight concern that there might not be enough going on to do an episode every week. We should have known better – actually we really should have known better because we’ve been working on this stuff for years. There are apparently no limits to humanity’s war with wildlife and the environment, and a case in point this week is the Grind, the disgusting slaughter of cetaceans in the Faeroe Islands, which Dominic discusses in-depth, suggesting that suspending the UK's free trade agreement with the Islands is key.  Dominic also gives an update on Nowzad and Pen Farthing. Charlie talks about the National Trust and so-called trail hunting. We have a shortcast from Luke Steele of Wild Moors. And we’ll be naming our heroes (including Sea Shepherd and 'Stop the Stink') and villains and giving shoutouts to a march in London, a discussion and webinar on the badger cull, and a Whale and Dolphin Conservation petition 'Lockdown Never Ends' which is aimed at the TUI Group .

• Dominic Dyer  Daily Mail opinion piece on the Grind
• Trade between UK and Faeroe Islands September 2021 pdf
• Nowzad Operation Ark update
• The War on Wildlife Project National Trust and trail hunting 101
• League Against Cruel Sports Trail hunting
• Wild Moors  Standard Life snaps up moorland estate for rewilding in net-zero drive 
• Stop the Stink website
• Herts and Middx Badger Group 'Voices for Badgers' webinar
• Whale and Dolphin Conservation Lockdown never ends – tell TUI to stop supporting captivity

Another special episode (as we suggested last week), this time focussing on Geronimo the Alpaca. Not an 'inside story' as such (though Dominic was of course heavily involved), instead we’re going to approach the subject in a slightly more tangential way – asking why did the media get so interested in what could have been just yet another bovine TB story, and what can we learn from that about promoting other campaigns;  looking at how Geronimo and Helen Macdonald have done so much to re-awaken the debate about bovine TB and the badger cull; and of course we talk about the self-inflicted mess that Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) has found itself in – referencing a well-attended protest that took place outside Defra's London offices last week.

• BBC News  Geronimo the alpaca: Who is he and why did he hit the headlines?
• Off the Leash Podcasts   Geronimo Defra Protest (27:07)
• Spectator TV Is an animal's life worth as much as a human's? (YouTube)
• BBC News Badger Cull New control areas despite cull phase-out
• Helen Macdonald Twitter feed
• Iain McGill Twitter feed
• Kevin O'Sullivan Twitter feed