NEWS FOR JUNE 2001 .

NEWS FOR JUNE 2001 ......................

League's protected deer may need cull, by Charles Clover, Environment Editor, Daily Telegraph, Monday, 25th June
DEER living in a sanctuary on Exmoor owned by the League Against Cruel Sports are overcrowded, prone to disease and may have to be culled, according a league document leaked to The Telegraph.about 300 red deer congregate at Baronsdown, near Dulverton, the largest of the sanctuaries on Exmoor owned by the League, which has 2,000 acres of land to provide refuges for hunted deer.
Animals are not fenced and so legally are wild but they are fed concentrate and hay to compensate for seasonal shortages of feed. Hunt supporters, including David Denny, a Worcester veterinary surgeon, have continued to allege that this unnatural overpopulation is causing serious welfare and disease problems. Local people have sighted emaciated deer and a pit has been seen where League staff have buried deer carcasses. Mr Denny says he has tested deer droppings and found them to have lungworm. The deer also have ticks and lesions typical of bovine TB, for which the Exe valley is a known hotspot.
Last year a five-year-old stag was seen on the sanctuary in poor condition and, when it left, it was tracked and killed by the local hunt's casualty service and found to be suffering from bovine TB in a ministry test. "Unless there is a dramatic depopulation by culling and not dispersing the deer, the situation will only deteriorate," Mr Denny said. However the league said a full survey of the deer had been carried out by the British Deer Society which found "absolutely no bovine TB". Douglas Batchelor, league's chief executive, said there had not been a cull at Baronsdown for 10 years or more. "A managed humane cull is not something we would be against but there is no evidence it is required." The disclosure of concern about the league deer coincides with proposals for the removal of Mr Batchelor and the executive committee next Saturday. Members proposing the resolution are critical of the way Mr Batchelor and the committee decided to dismiss Graham Sirl, head of West Country operations.

Jackie Ballard: What a politician really thinks about her ungrateful voters, The Independent, 11th June 2001
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