Having interviewed Stephen Crabb

Stephen Crabb, Conservative MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire has been surprisingly quiet on the badger cull so far. Although it is a WAG operation I would have thought he would have voiced his opinion earlier.

I caught up with him at a constituency surgery in Haverfordwest. Before he arrived I got chatting to his aid, who told me the WAG's communications with Mr Crabb about the cull had not been very thorough.

I found this interesting and in keeping with the WAG's general secretive approach to the cull.

Mr Crabb put forward his party line, and as expected he was in favour of the cull. But interestingly he was critical of the WAG's policy on landowner's rights to refuse contractors entry.

Bristol Animal Rights Demo

I traveled to Cardiff to film a demonstration by Bristol Animal Rights Collective at the headquarters of Thomson Ecology, - the group believed to have been contracted to carry out sett surveys for the WAG.

This was certainly a different breed of cull opponent than I had experienced previously. The group comprised mainly of young people, bar a few exceptions. Many of the 25 or so protesters were dressed as anarchists, in true 1970s punk style.
Their leader chanted on a megaphone, more or less non stop while I was there, which made little difference to the occupants of the office. Who responded only by closing a window to drown out the noise.
Throughout my investigations I have seen the gamete of anti-cull campaigners. But this lot seemed a little more involved on the idealistic front rather than a personal interest. It seemed to me that many of the group's passion was protesting rather than wildlife.

Poster business and civil liberties

Is displaying offensive material a crime?

While filming a demonstration in Cardigan (rather more a flyering session)by the Pembrokeshire Against the Cull group (PAC), I came across a man with an interesting story to tell. He was a local of Cardigan who said he had raised concerns with Dyfed Powys Police about their removal of a poster from a shop window in Cardigan.

The poster depicted a cartoon of the Welsh Rural Affairs Minister, Elin Jones as the Grim Reaper, with dead badgers at her feet and the words, "a smile of pure evil, Elin Jones - blood on her hands, slaughter of the innocents, the killing fields of Pembrokeshire".

According to the man, the police asked for this poster to be removed, but it was put back up soon after. The police soon returned and removed the poster themselves, telling the shop staff that the poster was offensive and they were taking it away to be forensically tested for fingerprints. The police also taped over the whole window of the shop.

The man said he had written to the police, asking why the poster had been removed. His concern is that he thought it was within the shop owner's rights to display the poster based on his freedom of speech and that it was not a criminal matter. It is fair to say that the poster could be deemed defamatory in a civil court, but is it a criminal act?

If the police, who as I understand it, have not responded to either myself or the man in question about this matter, had removed the poster based a breach of the law, then it would have been in under the Public Order Act 1986. The test for whether displaying the poster was against the law, would be whether it could cause harassment, alarm or distress in the eyes of a reasonable person.

I personally doubt that it could have, but it is down to the police to explain why they removed it. It might possibly resulted from a complaint which they received, which would have vindicated the officers.

The individual who raised the issue with Dyfed Powys Police is not a anti-cull campaigner, he believes that the shop owner's rights to free speech were infringed and that police were wasting their time on the matter.

Police are yet to comment.

Pembrokeshire Against the Cull supporters meeting

On Monday night (14h June) I attended a meeting of supporters for Pembrokeshire Against the Cull at Rhosygilwen, near Cardigan. There were over 200 people at the mansion, in a very isolated setting and I was surprised at the turnout.

Speakers were, chairperson Celia Thomas, Lizzie Wilberforce from the Wildlife Trust, Dr Gavin Wheeler, AM Peter Black and actor Jerome Flynn. The agenda focused mainly on the merits of a vaccination for badgers as an alternative to culling, which according to the speakers would be more effective, cheaper, and less unpopular.

The meeting's atendees seemed to be mostly landowners and farmers from within the cull area, which was a surprise to me, as I did not think so many farmers would object.

There was a great deal of bad feeing toward the assembly evident at the meeting. But there seemed to be as much disapproval for the fact that it will be compulsory for landowners to allow cullers on their property, as for the cull itself. This was particularly detectable when Peter Black spoke about the issue of landowner's rights.

Clearly there were a great many people at the meeting with a strong passion for wildlife. But there were also many who objected to the cull based on indignation at having their rights apparently ignored.

An inflamatory topic was also the alledged behaviour of the police in relation to the cull opposition. Two police officers took seats in the hall before the meeting, but were asked to leave by one of the speakers. It was anounced to the meeting that this had happened, and also that the police had parked their car (which had CCTV capabilities) with a view of the gate to the car park at the time when everyone was arriving. It was suggested that they may have ben recording the car number plates of the meeting goers, but when they were asked, they said the camera was not recording.

There was also talk accusing the police of tapping the phones of PAC members, but this must remain in the realm speculation.

There will always be protesters and opposition groups to conservation matters. But PAC's grievances set them apart from mear animal rights campaigners. Their arguments have scientific backing (whether it is correct or not is debatable), and many of their members are themselves ecologists. Furthermore PAC's anger stems to a significant degree from the way they feel they have been treated by the WAG.

Their passion against all facets of the cull is formidable, but rational.