Wildlife and animal welfare

Biofuelwatch is calling for a national week of action against the agrofuel industry from 26 January to 2 February.

Instead of organising a central protest, Biofuelwatch is encouraging local groups and activists to organise local protests and actions. These actions could include banner protests outside a Tesco or BP petrol station, or an biofuel refinery (the Biofuelwatch website provides a map of such refineries here). Other actions could include leafleting, street theatre in the city centre, press releases and letters to local media, or the screening of films regarding the issue.

The National Farmers Union is calling for a mass cull of badgers, on the grounds that they spread tuberculosis amongst cattle. But there is no good evidence to support this massacre. Very few badgers are actually infected with bovine TB. The source is more likely to be commercial cattle.

“We can’t tell other countries what to do”, goes some people’s thinking. Whale meat is a popular food in Japan, and whaling has been part of Japanese culture for many centuries. Do we have the right to condemn them for it?

Sussex is a beautiful county. We are lucky to have the green, rolling Downs; heathland of bright gorse and dusky heather; sheep-dotted rural farmland; the bluebell woods of Wealden; the dramatic curves of the river through the Cuckmere valley. It is essential that we do everything we can to protect this wonderful biodiversity.