Emma Bailey MBA MSc CIWFM MRICS

Government announced their plan to finally end fox hunting this week - here’s footage from a six month undercover investigation at five fox hunting kennels - that shows two unseen and dark sides to the blood sport. Side one - Hunt kennels breed their own dogs, an estimated 6,000 per year - and each year the puppies are either considered good enough to join the pack, or they get shot. And for every puppy that does join the pack, an adult of maybe 5 years age - gets shot instead. One in one out. It’s a brutal unseen side of fox hunting - which has of course been illegal for over two decades, but still continues. 6,000 dogs bred and killed every year. On top of that we exposed breaches of safety regulations, including those meant to keep us all safe from animal diseases like mad cow disease. And the most awful disregard for animals - alive and dead. The images of kennel workers bouncing up and down on a dead cow, making a phone call - or running a dead cow over repeatedly with a quad bike - will likely provoke shock and horror amongst most of us. Side two - The vegan energy part is this - the shot dogs are dumped into open topped bins which are taken away and burned to make electricity. Homes powered by puppies. And it’s not just dogs - we filmed foxes, badgers and even partridges being dumped into the same bins for the same purpose. All of this is paid for with green energy subsidies - from our energy bills. Dogs are not a source of green energy. Hunting is supposedly illegal. Hunts are creating a dead dog waste stream and we’re paying to clean it up. It’s not just about foxes, dogs bred to be shot and turned into energy along with all manner of wildlife - and of course inherent to all of this is widespread animal abuse, farmed and wild. The idea that ‘fox hunting' is a way of life, or people in countryside know how to manage it better than people from the city - these are simply lame excuses, from the shameless - for awfully bad habits.

Latest news from COP 30 in Brazil - We hear the UK is too skint to contribute to Lula’s new fund to protect the Amazon rainforest - while just last week we can find nearly half a billion a year in new subsidies for Drax  so that it can continue to burn 250 year old Canadian forests - that’s all a bit f’d up in my opinion. theguardian.com/business/202…

The Environment Agency has granted a license to allow the nuclear waste site at Sellafield to dump 40 cubic metres of polluted water an HOUR ! in the rivers Calder and Ehen, that’s 40 tonnes of toxic water every hour of the day. Volunteer group  Lakes Against Nuclear Dump are mounting a legal challenge to stop this happening for which they need £2500 for legal fees. They have a funding gap and just two weeks to fill it - I’ll match £ for £ all donations into that gap.  If you can, please donate at the link below: crowdjustice.com/case/stop-c…