Deer, cruelty and a £5000 award

For those of us who know its history Baronsdown is a byword for the full cruelty and hypocrisy of the animal rights movement. Baronsdown is one of several parcels of land bought by the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) from the 1950's onwards as 'sanctuaries' from hunting most obviously for Exmoor's red deer. Anyone with even the slightest knowledge of red deer knows that without active management, i.e. culling, deer populations outgrow food resources and the health of the herd declines. LACS, however, is not just opposed to hunting with hounds it has an absolute opposition to any lethal management despite all the evidence of the consequences.

The refusal to cull any deer or work with neighbouring landowners on a deer management plan was in itself irresponsible and inevitably compromised the welfare of the herd, but worse was to come. LACS's response to the obvious suffering of the deer was to feed them with hay and subsequently with concentrates. Far from solving the problem it exacerbated it by dragging even more deer into the few hundred acres controlled by LACS and creating a perfect storm of disease and starvation.

Eventually one of LACS's own employees blew the whistle telling of the 107 deer he had found dead or dying in a 12 month period. Even then LACS refused to properly address the welfare of deer on its land and there have been recurrent stories of dead and dying deer in and around Baronsdown. The facts speak for themselves. For instance from 2000 - 2008 there were 88 confirmed cases of the debilitating disease bovine tuberculosis in deer in the whole of Devon and Somerset. 77 of those, 86%, were found within 2km of Baronsdown.

The appalling suffering of the deer was the reason many of you reacted with such anger to the news that Calor gas had awarded LACS £5,000 from its rural community fund to go towards an 'educational hub' at Baronsdown. Quite apart from the fact that LACS has completely alienated most of the 'rural community' the thought of an organisation that has failed completely to protect the welfare of the deer on its land 'educating' anyone about its views understandably caused concern. Thousands of you sent that message to Calor gas and in short order Calor admitted that mistakes had been made, that the application was "non-compliant" and that the award should not have been made. We are grateful to Calor for rapidly accepting that funding an organisation like LACS from a rural community fund was entirely inappropriate. Unfortunately, however, the money was paid over and whilst Calor has assured me that it is "in discussions" with LACS about the return of the money no conclusion has been reached.

We will report back on the outcome of those discussions. In the meantime thank you to the thousands of you who made it clear to Calor just why supporting a divisive and unpleasant organisation like LACS is totally unacceptable to so many of us in the rural community.