Political animal

Since 2010, the Conservatives have:

• orchestrated a badger cull, despite independent experts saying it will have ‘no meaningful impact’ on TB in cows;
• overturned a ban on battery cages for ‘gamebirds’, which condemn thousands pheasants and partridges to miserable lives;
• dropped criminal charges against slaughterhouse animal abusers, despite clear evidence of them kicking, beating and abusing frightened animals;
• presided over a rise in the number of animals used for vivisection, despite pre-election promises to reduce them;
• spent thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money killing a handful of monk parakeets;
• spent thousands of pounds more on killing ruddy ducks;
• approved the killing of tens of thousands of endangered gulls on a shooting estate;
• attempted to license the destruction of buzzards’ eggs and nests to protect shooting interests;
• insisted that the cost of a gun licence remain so low that taxpayers are forced to fund most of what it costs to administer the application;
• subsidised wealthy shoot owners using taxpayers’ money;
• and reduced the number of vets at ‘livestock’ markets.

The Conservatives have said they will end the exploitation of wild animals in circuses, but it was their own MPs – Andrew Rosindell, Philip Davies and Christopher Chope – who repeatedly blocked legislation.

And now, of course, the government is keen to repeal the Hunting Act to allow gangs of hunters to pursue hares, deer and foxes until the animals succumb to the jaws of the hounds.

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