Worldlog Week 07 - 2009 - Hoofdinhoud

In my past few Worldlogs I have been relating the story of how we set up the Party for the Animals. This was in response to questions from many of you on how to get such an organisation off the ground. This week, however, I am interrupting my story to report some other important events and will continue my ‘how to start a Party for the Animals’ series next week.

This week the hunt was opened of 10 red deer that were illegally released on the Dutch island of Terschelling late last year as a kind of “joke” by some of the islanders. As these animals are not native to the island, the authorities decided to capture the deer and return them to holding centres on the mainland. Earlier the minister of agriculture, in response to parliamentary questions put by the Party for the Animals, had said there would be no hunt of the red deer. Yet last week the minister admitted that she had granted permission for the deer to be shot after several failed attempts to tranquillise and capture them. It defies belief that rifles are being reached for so readily. That the deer on Terschelling are viewed as “non-native animals” (the minister uses the term “fauna adulteration”) does not justify their summary execution. And the fact that several hinds may be with young makes the situation all the more harrowing. Furthermore, since the only male red deer has been already been captured, there’s no real worry of a population explosion.

The Party for the Animals has summoned the minister to the Lower House to give account of the shooting of red deer that may be with young. Members of the party travelled to the island to draw attention to the hunt by laying a wreath on the spot where the first red deer was shot.

Via our Dutch website, we have also started an e-mail protest campaign to persuade the ministry to stop the culling of the red deer. This is a final attempt to secure an amnesty for these defenceless red deer that have already been dragged to Terschelling from a mainland stock farm, during which the male deer had his antlers removed to ease the transport. And now these completely innocent animals face the death penalty.

Join the protest against the hunt of the red deer and go to our website and sign the letter to the ministry which will automatically be sent to the minister of agriculture in your name. Click here to read the letter in English and click here to sign it.

For those of you who missed my Worldlog last year in which I reported on the barbaric Faeroe Islands dolphin hunt, I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to join our protest campaign. Read here for more information on the protest campaign (in English) and enter your name and e-mail address here to send an protest e-mail to the prime minister of the Faeroe Islands requesting an end to this cruel annual dolphin hunt.

Until next week!