I just spoke to a check who contacted me about my post mentioning a large non native cat being killed by a vet.
He told me that I had to realise that the official government policy was to euthanise any exotic animal caught and especially larhe cats -"we are officially obliged to put down injured wildlife now rather than treat them -we can be prosecuted if we do not"
Yes, England the nation of animal lovers who for many, many decades has treated then re-released injured British mammals are legally obliged to kill them now. But I was wondering about which government body had an official policy to kill and exotic trapped or captured in the UK. I was told: The DEFRA are very strict on the matter and we have to be quiet about any exotic we put down bevcause of animal rights repurcussions"
I knew that the old Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF) advised farmers that it was up to them what they did about such animals on their land but I also know through the late Quentin Rose that he was paid several times to see if he could track and shoot large cats (whether he did he was cagey about.
When I asked a senior police officer in one force that had used Rose I found that I was seriously slapped down and told to keep out of it. I have worked with UK police forces since 1975 and never once had this negative attitude let alone from a senior officer. I did wonder what he was worried about -local PWOs were still friendly and helpful.
But by this time MAFF had become the Department for Environment Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and became even more hardline on the subject.
I knew RSPCA vets had been involved in some incidents and there were at least three large cats killed. Only one farmer and his wife spoke out about one incident -for which my solicitor holds the affidavit. Farmers were worried since DEFRA could cause them many bureaucratic problems.
The vet who contacted me I have done a background check on and know wherehe is based, etc. I cannot -will not- name him for very obvious reasons. I asked him if he could even guess how many trapped exotics had been killed in recent years and his response was that in talking to other vets he knew raccoons, raccoon-like dogs, "some odd foxes" and at least two large black cats had been put down and there were indicators of ther instances.
My next question was whether any vet he knew of -and I very strongly suspect that he might be one of those- had ever checked for micro chips etc in case the animal was an exotic pet that had escaped. "No, we don't do that it's just a case of do the job and get the animal disposed of quickly and absolutely no photographs to be taken". I think the "we" tells its own story.
There was a raccoon dog "humanely euthenised" in Wales recently. No checks to see if it was an escaped pet or not. Just the usual over-stressing of the animals being a major threart to UK wildlife.
It is pretty much out in the open now tjhat if you reporty any exotic -cats included0 to the RSPCA or DEFRA they are logged and marked fdor killing -with or without the property owner knowing as we have seen on the Welsh-English border.
This is why witness identity and locations are kept confidential. It is also one of the reasons why I eventually had every official block put on me by DEFRA when my inclusion on the Partners Aganst Wildlife crime was being renewed. Three police forces chief constables backed my membership but DEFRA blocked it. In fact I never bothered to argue the matter after I learnt that any individual or group then on the PAWS list was obliged by law to turn its information over to DEFRA.
Oh, I do not keep information stored on computers and good luck looking through my Day Books and papers!
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