Labour’s Animal Welfare

No.

M0nica

With due respect.I would prefer to have the squirrels rather than a dog.

No time for squirrels or dogs then!.

With due respect.I would prefer to have the squirrels rather than a dog.

M0nica

I have no time for squirrels. We had a huge hazel tree in our garden and also have a walnut. In nearly 30 years we have not eaten a single nut off either tree. The squirrels all get their first - and they still attack the bird table - although now I have read the vaseline trick, I will be out to apply it.

if the squirrels want to get into my good books they need to agree to share the nuts.

A few years ago we had a terrier and squirrels provided a lot of exercise for her, they used to sit in a tree or on the fence and chatter at her. Far too slow to catch them, the local cats were very wary and mostly kept away.

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I have no time for squirrels. We had a huge hazel tree in our garden and also have a walnut. In nearly 30 years we have not eaten a single nut off either tree. The squirrels all get their first - and they still attack the bird table - although now I have read the vaseline trick, I will be out to apply it.

if the squirrels want to get into my good books they need to agree to share the nuts.

Callistemon21

^He obviously didn't realise the supply would be available all winter! Poor thing spent hours doing it^ 😞
A peanut at a time? 😂

I know! I couldn't work out what he was doing at first.

He'd climb up to the peanut feeder, lift the lid, take one out and put it in his mouth, climb back down and run across to the border, dig a little hole with his front paws, drop the peanut in, scoop the soil back over it and pat the soil down.
Then do it all over again in a different part of the garden.

It was fascinating to watch, but the poor thing must have been exhausted 🥹

Sarnia

The Tories were supposed to ban the illegal smuggling of dogs and puppies but pulled back from making it law. I would like to see an end to this and stop the cruel, uncaring animal traffickers making money out of these poor animals.

if its illegal why does it need to be banned?

Feeding urban foxes is placing the animals at much more risk of being poisoned or shot than dying of hunger

None of us are perfect are we?

But I do the best I can.

I'm amazed that none of our cute fox lovers are standing up for rats. They, too, have a place in the ecosystem..

Callistemon21

Whitewavemark2

I buy squirrel food. It is very reasonable.

Do you have a rat problem? I've seen one or two around here, one hanging off the bird feeder. DH put Vaseline on the pole, it kept sliding down and we haven't seen it since.

No 🤞🤞. But our little terrier - huge rodent hunter - died recently so I’m watching the situation. We do welcome Tofu (next doors cat) into the garden who is also the worlds best hunter. Not keen on his lavatory habits though 🙂 but needs must.

He obviously didn't realise the supply would be available all winter! Poor thing spent hours doing it 😞
A peanut at a time? 😂

Whitewavemark2

I buy squirrel food. It is very reasonable.

Do you have a rat problem? I've seen one or two around here, one hanging off the bird feeder. DH put Vaseline on the pole, it kept sliding down and we haven't seen it since.

I buy squirrel food. It is very reasonable.

I found a fat ball buried in one of my garden pots.
We don't put them out any more as the birds don't seem keen so it must have come from a neighbour's garden.

I've found the birds are very choosy which fatballs they'll eat 🤔
The RSPB ones were very popular, but not cheap.
This year I have the Peckish brand which they all seem happy with.

Many years ago I watched a squirrel steal individual peanuts from the bird feeder and carefully bury them in the garden borders.
He obviously didn't realise the supply would be available all winter! Poor thing spent hours doing it 😞

V3ra

^We had one attacking the bird feeders, chewing the way into them to get the food, so I suspended them on a long garden wire that he could not grip.^

I've bought metal fat ball feeders that the squirrel can't chew his way into.
I've also learned to only half fill them. I watched one day as the clever so-and-so lifted the lid and ran off with a whole fat ball in his mouth 😳
Now he can't reach down far enough into the feeder.

I found a fat ball buried in one of my garden pots.
We don't put them out any more as the birds don't seem keen so it must have come from a neighbour's garden.

We had one attacking the bird feeders, chewing the way into them to get the food, so I suspended them on a long garden wire that he could not grip.

I've bought metal fat ball feeders that the squirrel can't chew his way into.
I've also learned to only half fill them. I watched one day as the clever so-and-so lifted the lid and ran off with a whole fat ball in his mouth 😳
Now he can't reach down far enough into the feeder.

My squirrels have a love of tulip bulbs
They must be like chocolate to them. ☹

Callistemon21

MissAdventure

Grey squirrels must be some of the cutest looking pests, ever

They are, aren't they.

Mine all have names 😁

We had one attacking the bird feeders, chewing the way into them to get the food, so I suspended them on a long garden wire that he could not grip. That defeated him, so he had to dig up all the walnuts he buried in the autumn

Presumably this is in response to chats to the public? I don't think politicians realise how many people care about animals. With so much countryside being destroyed, we really need more laws to protect wildlife and farmers. Foxes can be dealt with without the brutality of hunting. The hunting fraternity breed foxes in order to have the pleasure of killing them.
Part of the problem lies in the fact that the upper classes are generally the participants.
Where I live in the north, hare hunting is a huge problem. Farmers are being intimidated by brutes with their dogs who trespass and destroy crops in order to hunt hares.
Children with air guns and catapults are killing wildlife on rivers and canals.
All of these things come under the heading of animal welfare. We cannot consider ourselves a civilised country until all animal cruelty is dealt with.

I feed the fox couple because last year i kept seeing them and they were clearly starving - emancipated and the brushes were so thin and their coat dull - so I put out the food that my dog had left. Gradually over the months they have become shiny handsome specimens. They get a meal every evening at about 9pm. They are bringing their cubs now who look like healthy miniature specimens of their parents. They are extremely timid and are totally absent during the day only coming out at night. I have no interaction with them, in fact I totally ignore them. They aren’t pets, but part of our eco- system, which I value snd will help if I can.

I also feed the squirrels - they come every morning at about 10am.

I will admit to relocating the excess mouse population, who play fast and loose in the greenhouse.

Of course I feed the birds. That started because the sparrows seem to be diminishing in number so I started to feed them - got loads now😀, we also have a healthy starling population - although they are on the red list as are the herring gull which everyone hates - incredibly handsome birds.

I expect that other people tut about it as well. 😀 but I can live with that. What I can’t live with is the diminishing biodiversity that is happening in our country. So I have a garden for pollinators, hedgehogs and frogs, a rotting wood pile for beetles and anything else I can do to enrich our eco-system.

And now we have a Home Secretary (Jimmy Dimly aka James Cleverly) intervening in the case of a loose cow. A matter in former times for the relevant Constable's Sergeant or perhaps his Inspector. Perhaps the King should get involved or perhaps we should ask Joe Boden to investigate. Does the Home S⅞ecretary have nothing more demanding in his In Tray?

MissAdventure

Grey squirrels must be some of the cutest looking pests, ever

They are, aren't they.

Mine all have names 😁