Worldlog Week 46 - 2008 - Hoofdinhoud

This week saw the start of the Water District Board elections. Between 13 and 25 November, Dutch residents can vote to elect the Water District Board members for the period 2009 to 2013. As I mentioned in the Worldlog of week 42, the Party for the Animals is standing for election in six water districts. This is the first time the Party for the Animals has contested these elections and, according to the press, it has a message very different to that of the other parties. We are strongly committed to pleasant and safe surroundings in which we can all live with respect for man, animal, nature and the environment. Pumping stations that are not dangerous to fish, cleaner water (less phosphate and incecticides) and an end to the cruel and uneconomic muskrat hunt (the muskrat apparently threatens the dikes) and a stop to sports involving animals, such as angling, are a few of our policy speerheads. You can find more information on the Water District Board elections in the Worldlog of week 42.

Last week I heard the unbelievable news that Dutch military personnel in Uruzgan, Afganistan, shot dead their dog Rattaplan. This reprehensible deed does not seem out of place in the mission that has thus far yielded nothing but numerous innocent victims among people and animals. A society’s level of civilization is reflected in the way it treats its animals…

I have drawn up parliamentary quetions for Minister Middelkoop of Defense. I want to know if measures have been taken against those involved in this execution.

The Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation (NGPF), the scientific office of the Party for the Animals, has developed a plan to turn Schiphol airport into the Netherland’s largest solar power station. This plan represents an immediate solution to the “problem” of the conflicting interests between birds and aircraft since a Schiphol with solar panels instead of grassy fields would be a far less interesting landing-site for birds. Birds are currently chased away and shot. This plan is an opportunity to merge the safety of air-traffic with animal and environmentally friendly measures and put an end to the culling in and around Schiphol.

During question time in the Lower House, I asked the Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality about the lack of cattle grids at highway A28 near Nunspeet. In the Veluwe, a wildlife area near this highway, 90% of the wild boar population is currently culled. It is not terribly surprising that after shooting 90% of all wild boar in the Veluwe the surviving 10% go in search of a safe haven. The wild boar near highway A28 are in fact refugees; the fact that they can walk onto the highway unobstructed because the provincial authorities has so far failed to install cattle grids again makes it clear that people are the cause of the problem, not the wild boar. Instead of cattle grids, the Minister is deploying hunters near the on and off-ramps of the A28 to shoot and kill fleeing boar. The minister has promised to present a cattle-grid plan quickly.

Until next week!