Dr. Bri here
I have been very busy on animal matters, and so has Save-Me. The problem has been that I usually never have time to write up a day’s work these days, so I know it’s been hard for many of you – our faithful friends and supporters – to believe that we are still on the case. But we are now reorganising. And things are changing fast. Anne Brummer, the amazing founder of Harper Asprey Wildife Rescue, is stepping into the role of Save-Me Campaign Manager and CEO. And we are setting about reorganising our methods, to breathe new life into Save-Me. We are already working on re-inventing the front pages of the Save-Me website, and reviewing the way the Forum is operated. In addition, we are looking into stepping up activity on the Save-Me Facebook page, which we have been deliberately keeping low-key for a while.
But the rest of what we do is divided into rescuing orphaned and injured small animals on a small scale, and getting them rehabilitated into the wild …. and campaigning in the world out there on a larger scale … meeting politicians, trying to influence the Government, assisting various campaigns to save animals … and working on and with the Press and media to try to spread awareness out there that things are bad, and animals with no voice need our help.
One of our immediate aims will be to make it easier for anyone to follow our progress. So today Anne and I present our first jointly written Campaign Update.
HOW WILL ANIMALS FARE UNDER THE NEXT MAYOR OF LONDON?
For the past few weeks, Save-Me has been working on trying to make sure that the welfare of animals in London is given proper consideration in the imminent elections for Mayor of London. WE want to get commitments from all candidates that they will take care of our city-dwelling wild animals, and protect them from mistreatment. We have met, so far, three candidates – Jenny Jones (Green Party), Ken Livingstone, and, today, Brian Paddick, of the LibDem party.
We had a very positive meeting today (at the Ministry of Sound – an unusual location !) with Brian Paddick – the would-be liberal Mayor of London. We liked him. He has a natural and genuine concern for animals, regards fox hunting as barbaric, and the proposed Badger-Cull as a tragic mistake. As you would expect from the former Metropolitan Police commander, he has pledged to be tough on crime if elected on May 3rd, and he confirmed to us to that this includes wildlife crimes. He is well aware that abusers of animals are also most likely to be abusers of children too, and guilty of other antisocial behaviour, so controlling wildlife crime has to be high in anyone’s priorities, in plans for, as Paddick puts it, “A MORE CIVILISED LONDON”. He confirmed to us his support for the currently disbanded London wildlife crimes unit. The unit is necessary to ensure that perpetrators of crimes against animals are prosecuted, but at the moment this work is not funded out of the Three Billion Pound budget of London’s Met police work – it is currently funded by WSPA – to the tune of 100,00 pounds. It really is a scandal that a charity has to support this vital work. The Wildlife Unit is important also because the illegal wildlife trade links to drugs and organised crime. In London alone over 30,000 endangered species products have been seized this year after being illegally imported. Illegal wildlife activity is estimated to be worth annually over 6 billion pounds world wide.
We ran the entire Green Party Manifesto for Animal Welfare past Brian, and he pledged his agreement and support of all the issues. He told us he would gladly work with Jenny Jones if she is elected to the London Assembly, on all animal issues. Paddick evidently very genuinely has a vision for a safer and greener London, and we think we could recommend anybody who cares about London’s animals to feel safe featuring him in their voting plan.
We will be writing about our meetings with the other candidates shortly.
This was our first meeting with Mr Paddick, and we looking to working with him on wildlife issues in a greener capital for years to come. It is of interest to note that he was the man in charge of the police in 2005, when we played in Hyde Park with Paul Rodgers … the gig that was postponed due to the 7/7 London bombings. We dedicated our thanks to the bravery of the police at that time.
Onwards !
Dr. Bri
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