Off the Leash

A shortcast by Charlie Moores about snares - part of Off the Leash's series of shortcasts supporting Animal Aid’s petition to make the use of free-running snares illegal.


"If you’re a certain age (and I am) you may remember how snares were often depicted as homemade devices, something a poacher in a TV programme might make from a bit of string to catch a rabbit for his dinner perhaps We never saw how the animal was killed once it had been snared of course – that might have upset us as we sat down to eat a lamb’s leg or a chicken’s breast muscles – but snares themselves seemed relatively ‘harmless’, a bit ad hoc, something that most of us probably assumed disappeared along with black and white televisions, panda cars, red telephone boxes, and the pick and mix counter at Woolworths.

But snares haven’t disappeared. Far from it. They are actually being used on an industrial scale. They’re probably being used in a field or a wood near you right now...

And of course they’re not made from plant fibres and hazel twigs anymore – they’re made from thin steel wire. Staved to the ground. Set very deliberately along runs or around stink pits, the stench of rotting flesh from previously snared animals drawing more animals to more snares. They’re cheap to buy, easy to use, light to carry, and quickly replaced if you can’t quite remember where you left them. They’re basically a simple, low-skilled way to kill or maim or injure wildlife. 

And having said all of that, bizarrely, here in the UK anyway, they’re legal to use. "

• Animal Aid petition   Make the use of free-running snares illegal for trapping wildlife (Deadline 9th May 2022)

TW: NO graphic details but very occasional use of strong language.

Charlie Moores talks with two exceptionally inspirational animal rights activists, Jake and Saffron from South London Hunt Sabs - a group that just a year after it was launched seems to be all over social media and, in the well-worn cliche, punching far above its weight.

The discussion took place just off the M25 in the car park of a well-known coffee company, and it quickly became obvious that these two individuals are not only eloquent and highly committed but balance and bounce off each other really well. The interview takes in hunts, animal culls, biased policing, and the behaviour of hunt followers but the answer to Charlie's first question asking how the group's message had spread so far in such a short time, set the tone for what was an enjoyable and uplifting conversation....

• South London Hunt Sabs  Facebook page and Twitter feed 

A shortcast by Off the Leash's Charlie Moores about  General Licences and the shooting industry. 

The recent furore on social media about Defra's revisions of the General Licence system to give shooting yet more provisions to make it easy to make profits from killing birds for fun seems to have caught a number of people by surprise. But of course, General licences have been around for decades. 

The General Licence system is complex, but it's essentially a way for individuals from certain industries (almost entirely agriculture and shooting) to get ‘permission’ from the government to step around the laws that protect birds in England. Nominally, all wild birds are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. You and I can’t simply go out and shoot or trap birds. We can't wander around with a gun killing them. It’s illegal - unless of course you and I claim that the birds we want to kill are ‘pests’ or causing us economic harm, in which case Defra will let you wave a virtual piece of paper around and off you go. Virtual? Yes, you don't even have to print a licence off. By definition, no one actually needs to even apply for a General Licence...

• Government website General Licences
• Wild Justice General licence confusion continues – Schrodinger’s Pheasant (04 Jan 22)
• Hunt Saboteurs Association Website and Twitter feed
• League Against Cruel Sports Website and Twitter feed

Charlie Moores talks with Anne, a spokesperson for the Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs. 

We're discussing fox hunting in Wiltshire and in particular the events that took place at a Boxing Day 'meet' of the notorious Avon Vale Hunt at Lacock, a  village in north Wiltshire almost entirely owned by the National Trust. As recorded on numerous body cams and uploaded to social media. the meet erupted into violence when hunt followers attacked protestors. 

In the aftermath of this violence, important questions are now being asked. Why, for instance, does the National Trust - one of the country's largest landowners which banned so-called trail hunting on its land in November this year - still allow meets to take place on its land?  Just how closely connected are the Hunt and the police officers who were on duty in Lacock that day? What are we supposed to make of the 'responses' to their constituents being attacked from local MPs Michelle Donelan and James Gray?  And what is it that keeps dedicated hunts sabs putting themselves on the front line...

• Wiltshire Hunt Sabs Twitter feed, Facebook page, and PayPal funding page
•  Wiltshire Live Boxing Day hunt descends into violence amid protest in idyllic Wiltshire village

In this Off the Leash Podcast 2021 Year End Special, Dominic Dyer and Charlie Moores focus on the madness of foxhunting's Boxing Day 'meets' with reference to the disgraceful attacks by hunt followers on protestors in Lacock, a National Trust owned village in Wiltshire; the Faroes and the Grind; the use of Black Bear fur in military hats; and announce plans for an Operation Ark and Operation Magic Carpet New Year Special podcast.  Sandwiched inside all of that is animal sentience, moorlands, and much more. 

We also discuss a planned series of shortcasts on snares and snaring to support the recently re-launched Animal Aid petition to ban the use of free-running snares. 

We can't really make an episode of The Off the Leash Podcast without our Heroes and Villains, and in this one we slam the fossil fuel industry, the pesticide industry, the shooting industry,  foxhunting, and the so-called Countryside Alliance, and heap praise on everyone who helped get people (and animals) out of Afghanistan and the hunt sabs and monitors who put their bodies (and minds) on the line to protect wildlife and stop wildlife crime from taking place (heroes one and all). 

Finally, we thank everyone who has supported us in our first year online, and look forward to 2022.

• Wiltshire Live Boxing Day hunt descends into violence amid protest in idyllic Wiltshire village
• Wiltshire Hunt Sabs Twitter feed and PayPal funding page
• PETA  Stop Bear Slaughter: PETA Unveils Faux-Fur Queen’s Guard Cap
• Animal Aid page on snares
• Government petition  Make the use of free-running snares illegal for trapping wildlife 
• Government petition  Suspend trade agreement with Faroe Islands until all whale & dolphin hunts end
• Off the Leash podcast Interview #12 Crustacean Compassion | Decapod Sentience
• Unearthed  Europe and the UK’s vast shipments of banned, bee-killing ‘neonics’

"it's not a case of what would you like or what's possible - it's what's needed."

Part Three of a podcast by Off the Leash's Charlie Moores made to support the Langholm Initiative, the award-winning community development trust for Eskdale, and a community buy out that is aiming to repurpose a former grouse moor owned by Buccleuch Estates into the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve. 

Charlie explained more about the background to the buyout in the introduction to Part One and discussed the incredibly strong community in Langholm in Part Two: it is an absolutely fascinating and inspiring story that is centred around Eskdale and the tightly-knit community of Langholm, a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway just 20 miles north of Carlisle, and the Duke of Buccleuch, one of the richest men in the UK who owns a staggering 217,000 acres of moorland, farms and forestry - including Langholm Moor and the Tarras Valley. 

Back in May 2019, Buccleuch Estates announced a decision to sell 25,000 acres of Langholm Moor and the Tarras Valley. Local interest in buying at least some of the land grew and the Langholm initiative launched a fundraising campaign on behalf of the community.

'The Impossible Dream' as it was termed initially, took off. In just six months the campaign attracted £3.8m in grants and funding, including a crowd funder which raised over £200,000 - and the community now legally owns 5,200 acres of land which includes upland moor, ancient woodland, meadows, peatlands and a river valley.

A second fundraiser has now been set up to buy an additional 5000 acres. The money has to be raised by May 2022 or the land could be put up for sale on the open market....and a chance to manage a whopping 10,000 acres could be lost.  Would he like to come to Langholm, Charlie was asked, to make a podcast to help 'spread the word'? Would he ever...

In Part One, Charlie visited the reserve with Tarras Valley Estate Manager Jenny Barlow and Development Manager Angela Williams; in Part Two he spoke with Langholm residents, Margaret Pool, Chair of Langholm Initiative, and Mairi Telford-Jammeh, a member of the Langholm Executive, and in Part Three he is talking with Kevin Cumming, who in 2019 was working for the Langholm Initiative and managing the Wild Eskdale project which aimed to promote eco-tourism in the area as well as provide outdoor education for the local community. 

For Charlie, Kevin was the 'face' of the buyout and it's likely that many of us were introduced to the details and purpose of the buyout through an articulate and thorough blog he wrote for Mark Avery's website in Dec 2019. Fortunately, Kevin happened to come into the Langholm Initiative office just as Charlie was finishing talking with Margaret and Mairi. He looked a little - er, weary (for a very good reason as he explains in the conversation) but immediately agreed to a chat before heading home. He is a remarkable individual - softly spoken with a core of steel if you like...

Charlie began the conversation by asking Kevin to both explain the links between the Langholm Initiative, Wild Eskdale, and the Tarras Valley nature reserve and to go back to the beginning when the opportunity to buy the land had first arisen...

• Langholm Initiative Website and Twitter feed
• Go Fund me Crowd Funder (Community Buyout 2)
• Tarras Valley Nature Reserve Twitter feed
• YouTube Tarras Valley Live Event (December 1st) 
• Mark Avery  Guest Blog | Langholm Moor Community Buyout by Kevin Cumming

Charlie Moores in conversation with Claire Howard, Executive Director of Crustacean Compassion, an organisation that works to raise public awareness of the sentience of decapod crustaceans; works with food businesses to implement changes to their practices; and puts pressure on the Government to make the necessary changes to the law.

In November the UK government released a report titled ‘Review of the Evidence of Sentience in Cephalopod Molluscs and Decapod Crustaceans’, which concluded that these animals are sentient, can feel pain and should be protected in law.” On the back of that the government have proposed an amendment to the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, a new piece of legislation that is currently making its way through parliament. If it becomes law, for the first time ever cephalopods (like squid and octopus) and decapods (like crabs, lobsters, and shrimps), would be legally recognised as sentient beings alongside vertebrates.

Claire explains why Crustacean Compassion fought to have decapods recognised as sentient and how the legislation will set a precedent for how these fascinating animals should be treated.

• Crustacean Compassion Website
• Crustacean Compassion Facebook page and Twitter feed
• Crustacean Compassion Christmas Appeal
• Government website 'Lobsters, Octopus and Crabs recognised as sentient beings'

Part Two of a podcast we've made to support the Langholm Initiative, the award-winning community development trust for Eskdale, and a community buy out that is planning to turn a 'knackered old grouse moor' into the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve. 

Off the Leash's Charlie Moores explained more about the background to the buyout in the introduction to Part One, but it is an absolutely fascinating and inspiring story that is centred around Eskdale and the tightly-knit community of Langholm, a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway just 20 miles north of Carlisle, and the Duke of Buccleuch, one of the richest men in the UK who owns a staggering 217,000 acres of moorland, farms and forestry - including Langholm Moor and the Tarras Valley. Back in May 2019, Buccleuch Estates announced a decision to sell 25,000 acres of Langholm Moor and the Tarras Valley. Local interest in buying at least some of the land grew and the Langholm initiative launched a fundraising campaign on behalf of the community.

 'The impossible Dream' as it was termed initially, took off. 

In just six months the campaign attracted £3.8m in grants and funding, including a crowd funder which raised over £200,000 - and the community now legally owns 5,200 acres of land which includes upland moor, ancient woodland, meadows, peatlands and a river valley - the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve.

A second fundraiser has now been set up to buy an additional 5000 acres. The money has to be raised by May 2022 or the land could be put up for sale on the open market....and a chance to manage a whopping 10000 acres could be lost.  Would Charlie like to come to Langholm. he was asked, to make a podcast to help 'spread the word'? Would he ever...

in Part One he visited the reserve with Jenny Barlow and Angela Williams, in Part Two he's talking with two Langholm residents, Margaret Pool, Chair of Langholm Initiative, and Mairi Telford-Jammeh, a member of the Langholm Executive, to learn more about the history of Langholm, what Common Ridings are, and the sense of place that Langholm inspires...

Margaret and Mairi are obviously experienced interviewees as they didn't even wait for a question before launching into the most wonderful tales about swimming in the Tarras River, 'gurdling', and watching out for Border reivers...

As Charlie says in his introduction, he could have listened to them all day...

• Langholm Initiative Website and Twitter feed
• Go Fund me Crowd Funder (Community Buyout 2)
• Tarras Valley Nature Reserve Twitter feed
• YouTube Tarras Valley Live Event (December 1st) 
• Off the Leash Podcasts  Interview #10  Tarras Valley Part One

Off the Leash's Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer discuss the not unexpected news from Defra that testing has shown that Geronimo the Alpaca did not have Bovine TB - as a raft of people including Helen Macdonald (Geronimo's owner), vet Iain McGill, and of course Dominic said would be the case.

• The Independent  Post mortem tests on Geronimo the alpaca fail to find source of TB  (11 Dec 21)
•  Off the Leash Podcasts  Live #02 Various | Geronimo Defra Protest

Part One of a podcast Off the Leash's Charlie Moores has made to support the Langholm Initiative and a community buy out that is turning - to quote Raptor Persecution UK - a 'knackered old grouse moor' into the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve. 

The buy out is a fascinating and inspiring story that is centred around Eskdale and Langholm (a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway just 20 miles north of Carlisle) and the Duke of Buccleuch, one of the richest men in the UK who owns a staggering 217,000 acres of moorland, farms and forestry - including Langholm Moor and the Tarras Valley. 

in May 2019, Buccleuch Estates announced a decision to sell 25,000 acres of Langholm Moor and the Tarras Valley. Community interest in buying at least some of the land grew (and we'll be discussing just how close the community here is in Part Two). The Langholm initiative launched a fundraising campaign on behalf of the community and 'The impossible Dream' as it was termed initially, took off. 

The campaign grew quickly, attracting national interest and support from all over the world, and in just six months had attracted £3.8m in grants and funding, including a crowd funder which raised over £200,000. 

The community now legally owns 5,200 acres of land which includes upland moor, ancient woodland, meadows, peatlands and a river valley which is all being developed into the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve. 

A second fundraiser has now been set up to buy an additional 5000 acres. The money has to be raised by May 2022 or the land could be put up for sale on the open market, and the chance to manage a whopping 10,000 acres could be lost.  

On December 7th - after watching a very instructive video on YouTube about the community buyout and the reserve,  just two weeks after Storm Arwen battered Scotland and northern England ripping up trees and bringing down power lines, and on the very same day that Storm Barra battered Scotland (etc etc) Charlie found himself overlooking the Tarras Valley with Jenny Barlow, Estate manager of the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve, and Angela Williams,Development Manager at the reserve, before a drive along the track that winds through the valley and out the other side...

• Langholm Initiative Website and Twitter feed
• Go Fund me Crowd Funder (Community Buyout 2)
• Tarras Valley Nature Reserve Twitter feed
• YouTube Tarras Valley Live Event (December 1st)