Off the Leash

Charlie Moores talks with  Dr Alex Lees, Senior Lecturer in Conservation Biology at Manchester Metropolitan University about perceived clashes or differences in opinion between conservationists and animal rights activists.  The conversation was triggered by a thoughtful and well-expressed Twitter thread in which Alex wrote that “there are several tropes of animal rights activism which clash with conservation goals", going on to list, for example, trophy hunting, invasive species, and zoos.  Charlie's response to that thread was that you could equally say that there were conservation tropes that clashed with animal rights goals...

There is of course more overlap between conservationists and animal advocates than those sentences might suggest, and in the following conversation Charlie and Alex discuss issues that both divide and unite them - including a shared passion for wildlife and a desire for more nuanced conversations to take place in what has become a rather fraught area of discussion.

• Follow Dr Alex Lees on Twitter

Last week was notable for three things: an alpaca named Geronimo,  a report that led the UN secretary-general António Guterres, to call it a “code red for humanity”, and the unfolding tragedy in Afghanistan. We discuss all three. We also have a shortcast from veterinary scientist Iain McGill (who has done so much work exposing the government's failed 'test and slaughter' BovineTB policy), and raw audio from Dominic on the 'Rescue the Animal Rescuers' campaign. Charlie has a close look at a petition which it turns out wants 'animal rights protestors' kept off farms. In Heroes and Villains we praise the animal welfare teams working in Kabul, and slate the politicians that made such a mess of last week.  In our 'Shoutout' we give the link to donate to Nowzad, Pen Farthing's animal rescue centre in Afghanistan.

• The Independent  Geronimo's owner says she has 'new hope' 
• IPCC Sixth Assessment Report
• The Guardian  Denialism, Anti-vaxxers,  and the climate crisis
• Nowzad (winning the war for animals) website and Donate page
• The Mayhew Afghanistan

‘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!

Rescue the Animal Rescuers: Ricky Gervais, Dame Judi Dench and Peter Egan join calls for Boris Johnson and the Government to rescue animal rescuers from the Taliban 

As the Taliban closes in on Kabul and an emergency evacuation begins before the city falls, an urgent campaign "Rescue the Animal Rescuers" has been established to call on the Prime Minister and British Government to include on the British Rescue list, vets, vet nurses, animal care staff and their immediate family members, who are working for two British animal welfare charities in Kabul, Nowzad and the Mayhew.

Both these charities have worked for over a decade in Afghanistan in the most dangerous of conditions to vaccinate and neuter street dogs, put in place rabies control programmes, care for working animals and rehome rescue dogs and cats in Britain and around the world.

They have invested millions of pounds from British donors to set up veterinary clinics and animal care centres and to train a new generation of Afghan men and women to become qualified vets and vet nurses, which has led to a significant improvement in animal welfare in Afghanistan.

However, with American and Nato forces withdrawing from Afghanistan and the Taliban about to regain control of the country, this work can no longer continue and the dedicated animal rescuers of Afghanistan are now to be left at the mercy of the Taliban.  

Many of the young women working as vets and vet nurses  face forced marriage to Taliban leaders under the threat of rape or death and many of the men could also face deadly reprisals from the Taliban, particularly for assisting Nato forces and contractors in caring for their military and security dogs. 

Britain is desperately short of qualified vets and vet nurses and all the veterinary care teams that work for Nowzad and the Mayhew could quickly find employment in veterinary surgeries in Britain if they were rescued from Kabul.

Ricky Gervais comedian actor, director and producer said :"Pen Farthing and his team Nowzad have done amazing work for over a decade in Kabul, they have saved thousands of dogs and provided work for the local community and instigated educational programmes which have benefited their community. Their lives are now in danger. They need our help now." 

Actor and animal welfare campaigner Peter Egan said : "I visited Pen Farthing and Nowzad in Kabul in 2013. I was so impressed by the inspiring work he and his team were doing that I became their patron/ambassador. Working in a war zone has always made extraordinary demands on this wonderful charity..demands that were met by Pen and his team.  Now that the Taliban will certainly overrun Kabul in the next few days his life and the lives of all of his team are in danger. they need our help..we must not ignore them in their hour of need. We must get Pen...his team and his animals to safety...it is not impossible to achieve, it just takes commitment. The same support is needed for The Mayhew and their staff. Let's get this done."

• For more details on the work of Nowzad see https://www.nowzad.com
• Donate to Nowzad 
• For more details on the work of the Mayhew see https://themayhew.org/
• For media contact campaign: Dominic Dyer on 07876 596233 or [email protected]

‘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!

"Geronimo has shone a light into the deep, dark and murky mire of bovine TB policy...trying to kill one's way out of trouble was never going to work"
Highly-respected veterinary scientist Dr Iain McGill, Director of the Prion Group,  has been working with Helen McDonald to assist in her battle with Defra over the proposed slaughter of Geronimo the Alpaca, condemned to death because of an inaccurate bovine TB test which Iain says is part of an outdated 'vicious test and slaughter' policy that doesn't work and needs to be replaced immediately.

Iain does research in disease risk analysis, bovine TB, animal conservation and protection, prions and agricultural policy.


Dr Iain McGill on ResearchGate  and Twitter feed
BBC News  Geronimo the alpaca: Who is he and why has he hit the headlines?

‘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!

Julia Hammett is Chair of Oxfordshire Badger Group, a charity celebrating and protecting the badgers of Oxfordshire. Recorded live at Wytham Woods at the Group's first meeting after lockdown, Julia discusses the threats facing local badgers and the group's vaccination programme against bovine TB.

Wytham Woods is an ancient semi-natural woodland, which has been owned and maintained by the University of Oxford since 1942.  Its 1000 acres are a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest and are one of the most researched pieces of woodland in the world, exceptionally rich in flora and fauna, with over 500 species of plants, a wealth of woodland habitats (with numerous well-studied badger setts), and 800 species of butterflies and moths 

•  Oxfordshire Badger Group  website and Twitter feed 
• Wytham Woods website

‘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 Jack Wootton, the founder of the Forgotten Fish Project, which to quote from their website “focuses on a forgotten species that once played an amazingly integral role in our freshwater ecosystems". That forgotten species - the European Eel - was once abundant but is now - amazingly - Critically Endangered, one step away from extinction...

• The Forgotten Fish Project website
• The War on Wildlife Project  European Eels - slipping towards extinction?
• European Eel IUCN Red List

Charlie Moores talks with Henry Mance, acclaimed chief features writer at the Financial Times, about his thoughtful and beautifully-written first book, 'How To Love Animals in a Human-shaped World', which was published by Jonathan Cape at the end of April this year. The book touches on some hugely important themes – not just our often contradictory relationships with animals but the consequences of not even considering them in the way we have shaped and continue to shape the world. It has been deservedly receiving positive reviews across the board – The Guardian saying for example that the book is “Written with humour and humanity, Mance’s argument is both convincing and urgent: we need to make dramatic changes to our lifestyle if we want to prevent ecological catastrophe.”

Henry has also narrated an audiobook version of 'How To Love Animals in a Human-shaped World' and he kindly agreed to read some pages from a chapter titled 'Nothing but Footprints' as an exclusive bonus to this interview. The reading was recorded the week before the damning IPCC report on the climate crisis was released – a report that warns that humanity is on the very brink of creating a planet that life can not survive on - but those pages do indeed focus on the climate emergency, opening with a paragraph that includes the memorable line “If we believed, if we truly believed, we would act…”

• Henry Mance Financial Times chief features writer
• Henry Mance  "How to Love Animals in a Human-shaped World"
• Audiobook version of  "How to Love Animals in a Human-shaped World" on Audible
• The Guardian review of  "How to Love Animals in a Human-shaped World" by PD Smith
• IPCC Report   AR6 Climate Change 2021

In this episode we focus on the government's mess of a BovineTb 'strategy' that has seen so many negative headlines this week as Defra Minister George Eustice threatens to have Geronimo the alpaca killed (Dominic explains the situation from a behind the scenes perspective) and a coalition of animal welfare organisations submit more information on the badger cull to the Bern Convention. We made it out of our lockdown shelters to join Oxfordshire Badger Group at Wytham Woods (and our first shortcast comes from that visit courtesy of Oxon Badgers chair Juila Hammett).  Away from badgers, Charlie highlights a report by Rewilding Britain which details what area of our National Parks are given over to grouse shooting and excoriates the vile 'tradition' of cubbing - training hunting hounds by setting them on fox cubs. In Heroes and Villains, we thank  Helen Macdonald  (Geronimo's owner) for her stance and the 'Seven Sisters' acquitted of aggravated trespass charges brought by HS2, and we name Defra and the trustees of the Science Museum as our villains. 
Lastly, we have a second shortcast, this time from Jack Wootton, founder of the Forgotten Fish Project.

• The Sun  Boris Johnson condemns Geronimo the alpaca to death 
• Badger Trust  Wildlife groups allege breach of international treaty obligations
• Oxfordshire Badger group  website and Twitter feed
• Rewilding Britain  intensively-managed grouse moors cover over three-quarters of a million acres of Britain’s national parks 
• The War on Wildlife Project  Cubbing | An autumn sickness
• North West Hunt Sabs  Cub Hunting and how to sab them
• HS2 Rebelion  Seven sisters acquitted after all charges dismissed
• Culture Unstained  Science Museum signed Shell “gagging clause”
• Forth Rivers Trust The Forgotten Fish Project
• The War on Wildlife Project  European Eels - slipping towards extinction?

 ‘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!

As moorland campaigner Bob Berzins says in this shortcast, "The shooting industry is not built on Pennine granite, it's a castle made of sand, and the tide is coming in."  And living in the Peak District and seeing the failing and crime-ridden grouse moors up close Bob should know.

Bob wrote a blog recently for the Raptor Persecution UK (RPUK) website which was titled “Organised crime, harassment & intimidation – another day on the grouse moors” and that’s very much the theme of this shortcast which he suggested should be titled "A Network of Crime'.

Bob also published a novel recently called Snared which Charlie Moores reviewed saying it  “absolutely nails the unsavoury workings of the intensive grouse shooting industry to the wall". Bob, actor Nick Wood and Charlie created an audiobook version of Snared, and with Bob's permission we are reproducing a few pages from Chapter 24 of Snared here as well. Please note that all money from the sales of that audiobook goes to a domestic abuse charity, IDAS. 

• Bob Berzins website and Twitter feed
• Moorland Monitors website and Twitter feed
• The War on Wildlife Project  'Snared' review
• RPUK Guest post  Organised crime, harassment & intimidation – another day on the grouse moors
• Domestic Abuse charity IDAS

"...not only does [the way the land is managed] not deliver for wildlife, or the environment, or local communities, but it also doesn't even deliver for the grouse shoots themselves." Luke Steele, August 2021

Charlie Moores talks with Luke Steele about grouse moors, upland rewilding, and the role peatlands can play in carbon storage. Luke is Executive Director of Wild Moors, the recently renamed organisation that has sprung up from Ban Bloodsports on Yorkshire’s Moors, a group founded in 2014 with the stated aim of ending grouse shooting on Yorkshire’s moors “to free the way for these spaces to be managed in a way where their full potential can be reached”.  Wild Moors very much continues that work, but has broadened its scope beyond Yorkshire to help put in a new vision of uplands across the UK.

 In the lead up to the 'Inglorious 12th' – the start of a season where 'sportsmen' visit degraded moorlands to use Red Grouse as live targets – Luke and Charlie look at the failing grouse shooting industry, positive movement by Yorkshire Water on the management of its land, and a brighter future for our uplands and its wildlife - but they begin by discussing the rebranding of the group.


Wild Moors website and Twitter feed