I wonder why...

[nirofo]

your making accusations on behalf of others with no facts to back them up.

anyway this is all OT back to the topic, i agree 100% with the culling of foxes humanely, would i like to see them totally eradicated NO, NEVER.

But having seen this picture it looks to me like all the carcasses are fresh therfore they look like they have been culled in a short period of time, now to me to cull this amount of foxes in one short period tells me that wherever this happened there must have been a serious fox problem!!!

Having lived on a farm in my youth i have seen first hand the damage a fox can do to lambs and let un-checked it would cost the farmer a pretty penny!

also for the record i do not agree with the lining up of the dead foxes.


PS when did i shout, calm down fella

Hi Buggyracer

The foxes were killed over a fairly large area in Sutherland by one man! Not on his own land ??? Foxes are territorial animals, the dog fox will not normally tolerate another on his patch, so it's fairly obvious that this killing spree was not a farmer going out to protect his livestock from the odd marauding fox, but a deliberate attempt to go out and kill as many foxes as he could shoot for his own gratification. The hanging of the foxes on a fence, (gibbet) just goes to show the sort of mental attitude some people take in the lust for self acclaim. If it were just the odd fox that was being shot to protect livestock, then there is some justification in the farmer doing that, unfortunately it doesn't just end with the fox. Golden Eagles, Red Kites and Buzzards are regularly poisoned, shot and trapped, Peregrine Falcons are shot and their eyries destroyed, Hen Harriers are shot and Merlins have their moorland nesting territories burnt out every year by irresponsible crofters and others throwing down a lighted match and then walking away to let the moorland burn!!! All these birds, (except the Buzzard) are Schedule One Protected Species, it is an offence to harm these birds in any way whatsoever, but it doesn't stop the morons who think nothing of our extremely scarce wildlife.

nirofo.

[nirofo]

Foxy I know that you and your hubby are good and caring farmers and quite understand you wanting to protect your livestock.
I also understand,even though I hate killing, that culls may sometimes be necessary.

What I object to is the killing of large numbers of animals just in case they 'might' kill.

Also I know that there is a large population of rabbits and would rather they were dealt with humanely rather than given the horrible disease max.
However, surely killing all these foxes will only make the rabbit population increase even more?
Aren't we upsetting the balance of the whole eco-system?


Where on earth did all these ferrets (I take it that's what they were?) come from?

Also how many animals are maimed and left to suffer a long lingering death rather than being killed outright?
More so by the amateur who just goes out taking pot shots as they enjoy killing.

Not an easy subject but feel there must be a way of dealing with it rather than the slaughter we have seen?

Hi Liz

The "ferrets" are actually stoats, weasels and sqirrels. Most of these creatures would have been trapped in Fenn or illegal Gin traps, many would die a long lingering death in the trap, probably just caught by the foot or the tail.

Here's a close up of the animals on the gibbet.

nirofo.

Keepers gibbet corpses.


nirofo.

[Liz]

Hi Nirofo

That is awful!!!

How on earth can someone take pleasure in killing all these animals and beautiful birds?

It's bad enough them being shot outright but to think of the pain they go through if caught in traps or are wounded.

Very, very sad.

Thanks for highlighting this. No matter how painful it is to look at photos like this we need to be aware that it is going on.

It is a sick individual who can do this in the first place but then to display his kill shows a twisted mind.

The problem is what can we do about it?

Liz

[Lolabelle]

We all seem to agree that these photo's are pretty awful, regardless of whether or not we agree about the culling practices of farmers etc...
But I have a question for the photographers, and no offence intended at all, but how do you see a line of dead animals as a photo opportunity? A genuine question and absolutely not a criticism. I don't like to look at dead animals, and cant imagine thinking to grab my camera and take a photo.

[nirofo]

We all seem to agree that these photo's are pretty awful, regardless of whether or not we agree about the culling practices of farmers etc...
But I have a question for the photographers, and no offence intended at all, but how do you see a line of dead animals as a photo opportunity? A genuine question and absolutely not a criticism. I don't like to look at dead animals, and cant imagine thinking to grab my camera and take a photo.

Hi Lolabelle

The photographs and many more in my photo library were taken for one specific purpose and that is to let people know just what is happening to our beautiful and scarce wildlife! They have been used in various conservation magzine and book articles depicting the type of wildlife destruction that is going on every day, day in, day out with very little effort from our conservation bodies to do anything meaningful to stop it. The photo's have also been used many times during Natural History talks and slide presentations to various societies, both in Caithness and elsewhere. The persecution of all the birds of prey (Raptors) is at an all time high, poisonings with banned substances is rife throughout the shooting estates and sheep country, Caithness and Sutherland is well up near the top of the list of perpetrators. Even when the culprits are caught red-handed the sentences metered out to them is laughable. Many of the Sheriffs, Magistrates, Judges etc are biased towards the shooting fraternity, with many having their own vented interest in ensuring the estate owners etc are not penalised too severely. Many are estate owners or shooting syndicate members themselves, therefore ensuring maximum penalties under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 are never given.

The point of posting these shocking photographs on a public forum is to raise debate about the plight of our creatures, in this case it has done just that!

nirofo.

[Lolabelle]

Thanks for the info nirofo, I didn't realise these photo's were not from us. I can understand now what is being said in the above. It will always be a tough subject, we have the same kind of problems with wildlife here, and the same opposing sides of the argument. Conservation of the native predators v's the people trying to make a living from the land. People in the cities and from elsewhere see Kangaroo's as "Skippy" but in some areas they are a real problem. Without the natural disasters like bushfires to slow reproduction down, and the natural cycle of drought etc, and the artificial "good season" of the 'roo's eating crops, we have an epidemic of Kangaroos. So now they are a pest. And there are shooters here too, and maybe some take photo's of the dead 'roos too, but I still don't like the look of it. But at times and in certain circumstances there is a need to cull them. I would imagine some of the circumstances are similar in your neck of the woods.
And the displaying of the bodies is still pretty distasteful.

[Margaret M.]

The only tail docking I've seen is by farmers with a large knife with no anaesthetic or any stitching afterwards. That puts a mockery on any care that farmers have for their flock.

The only headless lamb corpses I've seen is due to the mass factory farming that this nation supports.

Yes, let's protect the lambs so we can .............. kill and devour them?

[Margaret M.]

What nauseating sights! What a hard heart it takes to kill these animals and display them so proudly.