Current Awareness

“Two men were today found guilty of harassing a dolphin when they frolicked in the sea with it after leaving a party in the early hours of the morning.”

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The Guardian, 17th April 2008

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

“A chicken owner has been given an asbo after his cockerels kept neighbours awake by crowing 400 times an hour. Peter Stoodley, 64, has been ordered to evict 80 birds living at the back of his shop in Yeovil after the council received a ’sustained period’ of complaints about the noise.”

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The Guardian, 16th April 2008

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

“Two men accused of disturbing a dolphin while they swam in the sea after a drunken night out have told a court they believed the animal enjoyed itself.”

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The Guardian, 14th April 2008

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

“Nearly 12 years after conservationists asked government to help save the disappearing water vole, the whiskered creature that inspired the character Ratty in Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows - along with seahorses, a shark and an edible snail - has become one of Britain’s most protected species.”

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The Guardian, 31st March 2008

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

“Monks from the largest Hindu temple in Europe, angered by the RSPCA’s slaughter of its sacred cow, will serve the charity with legal papers today.”

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The Guardian, 28th March 2008

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

“Breeding newts could stop a couple moving back into their £1m farmhouse after they were flooded out in last summer’s storms.

When the Histeds applied to unblock the ditch on the side of the M4 they were told the species is so rare that potential habitats are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.”

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The Guardian, 27th March 2008

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

“Water voles are to be given protection from persecution and accidental disturbance to try to stem the decline in their population. The species has suffered more than a 90 per cent fall in numbers in less than 20 years.”

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The Times, 27th February 2008

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Regina (Buglife – The Invertebrate Conservation Trust) v Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corpn; WLR (D) 59

“In considering the tension between the purposes of s136 of the Local Government Planning and Land Act 1980 (bringing land into effective use) and s40 of the Natural Environment Act 2000 (conserving biodiversity) a benevolent construction should be given to planning decisions and, where a claimant contended that a decision was procedurally flawed, it was right to look behind the words used and see what had in substance been decided.”

WLR Daily, 25th February 2008

Source: www.lawreports.co.uk

Please note once a case has been fully reported the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

“Many people do not think twice about trampling over a spider or beetle while walking on grass. But insects have rights, too, and today in the High Court a charity is to defend the right for the creepy-crawlies to live undisturbed on the West Thurrock marshes along the Thames in Essex.”

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The Times, 22nd February 2008

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

“A council is to challenge legislation after spending £60,000 to move four newts a short distance from the path of a construction site.”

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The Times, 15th February 2008

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

“A ban on using wild animals in travelling circuses because of welfare concerns is not supported by the scientific evidence, a report for the Government has found.”

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Daily Telegraph, 21st November 2007

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

“Lawyers for farmers have begun legal action against two animal testing laboratories for loss of earnings caused by this summer’s outbreak of foot and mouth disease.”

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The Guardian, 13th November 2007

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

“Ever since a woman wearing a leopard skin coat was attacked by a pet lion, there have been tight controls on keeping wild animals at home.”

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Daily Telegraph, 5th October 2007

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Death not ‘adverse effect’

Regina (British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

Queen’s Bench Division

“The death of an animal used in a regulated procedure for scientific experimentation was not an adverse effect which needed to be taken into account when deciding whether to grant a licence for such experiments. Rather, the statutory scheme governing such licences was concerned with the pain and suffering which animals might experience before death.”

The Times, 27th August 2007

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.

“Farmers who own any of the 214 cows slaughtered so far in the latest foot-and-mouth outbreak will be able to claim compensation but other businesses that have been indirectly damaged are in a much harder legal position.”

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The Times, 8th August 2007

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

“Convictions for animal cruelty in the UK fell by 20% last year, according to new figures released by the RSPCA.”

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BBC News, 31st July 2007

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

“An anti-vivisection campaign group won a partial victory yesterday in its High Court claim that the Government was failing in its legal duty to ensure animal suffering was kept to a minimum in UK laboratories.”

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The Independent, 28th July 2007

Source: www.independent.co.uk

“Police officers armed with bolt cutters had to be called in last night to help government officials seize Shambo, the sacred Hindu bullock wanted for slaughter.”

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Daily Telegraph, 27th July 2007

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

R (Swami Suryananda, representing the Community of the Many Names of God) v. Welsh Ministers 

“The decision to slaughter a Hindu community’s temple bullock as part of a general government policy after testing positive for bovine tuberculosis was lawful and justified and was not a breach of article 9 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Though the decision interfered with the community’s right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion the interference was necessary and proportionate given the importance of eliminating bovine tuberculosis and the fact that the slaughter policy implemented Council Directive 77/391/EEC.”

WLR Daily, 23rd July 2007

Source: www.lawreports.co.uk

Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

“It is cats that are supposed to have nine lives, but Shambo enjoyed more than the average bullock. The six-year-old Friesian was supposed to be slaughtered in May after he was exposed to bovine TB, only to be spared when his Hindu keepers argued he was sacred.”

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The Guardian, 26th July 2007

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

“Government legislation aimed at minimising the use and suffering of animals in medical research was branded a failure yesterday by the scientist father of cabinet minister Ed Balls.”

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The Guardian, 24th July 2007

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

“The long-running saga of Shambo the bull entered its final chapter yesterday, as the Court of Appeal ruled a slaughter order on the animal was justified, despite his sacred status for the Hindu monks who keep him.”

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The Independent, 24th July 2007

Source: www.independent.co.uk

“Shambo, the temple bullock ordered destroyed after a test suggested he may have TB, was reprieved by a high court judge today.”

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The Guardian, 16th July 2007

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

“Monks hoping to save a ’sacred’ bullock called Shambo which has tested positive for bovine TB have made a last-ditch plea to halt a slaughter order.”

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BBC News, 29th June 2007

Source: www.bbc.co.uk