Animal Aid

The following culls are either planned or underway. Please write letters and emails of complaint to the addresses given, and if you know of wildlife culls in your area, let us know.

Save Cheltenham Gulls

Cheltenham Borough Council is considering shooting gulls in an effort to control their numbers, following complaints about the amount of noise they make, even though, as autumn approaches, noise levels will naturally diminish anyway. Culls do not work, and in a matter of weeks bird numbers can return to pre-cull figures. And, of course, culling is never humane.

Please politely contact the council and urge them to use a humane method instead:

Cheltenham Borough Council
Municipal Offices
Promenade
Cheltenham
Gloucestershire GL50 9SA

Telephone: 01242 262626

Email Cheltenham Borough Council

Stop Killing Rabbits

Scottish Borders Council is paying a pest control company to kill rabbits who live on and near a non-league football pitch. Gala Fairydean Football Club was due to have an artificial surface laid. The work was delayed and, while waiting for it to resume, the Club decided to exterminate the animals who eat the grass.

Contact Scottish Borders Council via their online form.

Email Gala Fairydean Football Club on webmaster@galafairydeanfc.co.uk

Stop the Killing of Pigeons

Please contact Wycombe District Council and urge them to seek humane, non-lethal advice instead of killing pigeons in the town centre. Culls do not work, as new birds will move in to the area once the cull is over. And culling is never humane.

Wycombe District Council
Queen Victoria Road
High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire
HP11 1BB
Telephone: 01494 461000

Stop Wimbledon Golf Club from Killing Geese

We understand that Wimbledon Golf Club has contracted a pest control company to shoot Canada Geese, even though users of a nearby lake are encouraged to feed the birds. Reports state that Greylag geese and goslings have also been shot, and that 20 percent were not killed outright but suffered terribly until put out of their misery.

Please contact Wimbledon Golf Club and ask that they learn to share green spaces with wildlife instead of bringing in the killers.

19 Camp Road
London SW19 4UW

Email Wimbledon Golf Club

Canada Geese culled in Longton Park

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has contracted Wildlife Management Services to cull Canada geese in a neighbourhood park. Earlier this month, residents were woken by the sound of gunfire as pest controllers used a shotgun to carry out the cull. The head of environmental services at the council is quoted as saying the cull was ‘necessary’ because the birds ‘cause a nuisance and potential health problem with their droppings’. Clearly this does not justify a cull.

Please politely contact the council to complain:
Stoke-on-Trent City Council
Civic Centre

Glebe Street

Stoke-on-Trent

ST4 1HH

Telephone: 01782 234567

Online contact form

Reported pigeon shooting at London Victoria station

Information suggests that pigeons at Victoria station are being shot in an attempt to control their numbers, but officials are considering putting an end to the use of this cruel method.

Please politely contact Network Rail and urge them to adopt humane methods of pigeon control instead. You can suggest that they contact the Pigeon Control Advisory Service (PiCAS) for advice on 0844 736 6272.

Contact Network Rail:
Telephone: 08457 114141
Online contact form

Merton Council culling pigeons

Merton Council is using birds of prey to control pigeon numbers. Attempting to deter pigeons in this way is neither humane nor effective. Previous attempts in London and Nottingham have seen pigeons ripped apart in front of horrified residents and tourists. On top of this, in a matter of weeks, numbers can return to pre-cull figures.

Please politely contact the council and urge them to adopt humane methods of pigeon control instead. You can suggest that they contact the Pigeon Control Advisory Service (PiCAS) for advice on 0844 736 6272.

Contact Merton Council:
London Borough of Merton
Civic Centre
London Road
Morden
SM4 5DX

Telephone: 020 8274 4901
Email the Council

Boar in the Forest of Dean

The government has given the Forestry Commission the go-ahead to kill 100 boar in the Forest of Dean. The shy, wild animals are charged with digging up lawns and eating bluebells. The local council supported the cull, which is unsurprising as Councillor Nick Negus is such a fan of boar hunting that he has reportedly spent decades travelling overseas for the pleasure.

The government don’t listen to calls for compassion, so please instead write to local newspapers to oppose the cull.

Gloucestershire and Cheltenham News Series
The Forester

Deer in the Royal Parks

A deer cull has recently begun in two of the Royal Parks - Richmond Park and Bushy Park - despite protests and petitions from concerned members of the public. Please politely contact the parks and request that they find a humane alternative to culling:

Richmond Park Office
Holly Lodge
Richmond Park
Surrey TW10 5HS

Bushy Park Office
The Stockyard
Bushy Park
Hampton Court Road
Hampton
Middlesex TW12 2EJ

Snowdonia Goats

Wild goats in Snowdonia are still being culled due to concerns that they are causing ecological damage. Such culls are not only cruel, but also ineffective as population numbers often soon return to pre-cull figures. Please politely contact the Snowdonia National Trust and Snowdonia National Park Authority to complain about this continued cull, and ask them to consider humane alternatives:

National Trust
Trinity Square
Llandudno
Conwy LL30 2DE
Tel: 01492 860123

Snowdonia National Park Authority
National Park Offices
Penrhyndeudraeth
Gwynedd LL48 6LF
Tel: 01766 770274

Save the Grey Squirrels

The Red Squirrel Survival Trust wants to undertake a mass ‘eradication’ of grey squirrels on the Gower peninsula in Wales next year. Their aim is to rid the area of greys and ‘some years later’ introduce red squirrels. They are seeking the backing of the National Trust.

There is no guarantee that red squirrels could or would thrive in the area, even if there were no greys there. And the suffering caused to grey squirrels through trapping, shooting and poisoning is indefensible.

Please contact:
Red Squirrel Survival Trust
Hamilton House
Mabledon Place
London
WC1H 9BB
info@rsst.org.uk
020 7554 8579

National Trust
Trinity Square
Llandudno
LL30 2DE
01492 860123
enquiries@thenationaltrust.org.uk

Ring-necked parakeets

Natural England has recently announced that from January 2010 owners or occupiers of land will be able to cull ring-necked parakeets if they can demonstrate a ‘legitimate reason’ for doing so – such as health and safety concerns or damage to the environment. Defra sanctioned this decision.

Please politely contact Natural England and Defra to request that the policy is overturned:
Natural England
1 East Parade
Sheffield
S1 2ET
enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk
Telephone: 0114 241 8920

Defra
Customer Contact Unit
Eastbury House
30-34 Albert Embankment
London
SE1 7TL
helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Telephone: 08459 335577

Market Rasen Pigeons

It has recently been announced that Market Rasen Town Council are considering a pigeon cull in the local area to prevent slippery street surfaces under a rail bridge where they roost. Culling is a cruel method of controlling wildlife numbers, and is also ineffective, as numbers can return to pre-cull levels within just a few weeks.

Please contact councillors Steve Bunney and Chris Padley, who have spoken in favour of a cull, and politely ask them to consider non-lethal methods of pigeon control.

Market Rasen Town Council

Caistor Road

Market Rasen 
LN8 3JA

Australia's Kangaroos

Kangaroos are now 'quasi-extinct' across much of Australia, yet they are still being killed for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. Many of the animals killed are juveniles, and this killing is a serious threat to the survival of this species. Of course, the senseless murder of sentient beings is always wrong, whether they are threatened with extinction or not.

Sign the petition

RSPB supports Squirrel Cull

The RSPB supports a wide-scale cull of grey squirrels (and also ruddy ducks and other animals and birds, too). Contact them to voice your opposition to their deadly policies.

Contact RSPB Media officers, Graham Madge (email grahame.madge@rspb.org.uk) and John Clare (email john.clare@rspb.org.uk)

Kew Gardens Culling Wildlife

We have recently found out that Kew Gardens culls foxes, grey squirrels and rats, despite portraying themselves as friendly towards wildlife. Culling is never a humane or effective method of population control.

Please contact them to voice politely your opposition to this cruelty:

Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew
Richmond
Surrey
TW9 3AB
Telephone: 020 8332 5655 / 020 8332 5000
Email: info@kew.org