ANIMAL WELFARE - Where We Stand

A concerned citizen recently contacted us regarding our views on animal cruelty and welfare, and other rural issues.

Cardiff RESPECT believes that we have an obligation to protect both wild and domesticated animals against cruel treatment and unnecessary exploitation.

It is clear that illegal foxhunting still takes place in the countryside near Cardiff with local activists monitoring activity. Unfortunately police activism has been targetted at protestors rather than toffs breaking the law.

RESPECT also aims to push socialist solutions to the crisis in rural Wales, it is significant that the key issue that the "Countryside Alliance" mobilised over was in defence of foxhunting, a pursuit loved by the rural rich. This organisation has have nothing to say about the plight of small farmers, their low paid workforce, the closure of village shops and post offices, or the absence of public transport or other key services in rural areas.

In Wales, low pay, under-employment and deprivation for working families is endemic in the countryside. In South Wales, the massacre of coal mining by Thatcher has resulted in huge numbers of working class people living in 'rural' areas, facing long journeys to find work or unemployment. This has resulted in huge problems of social alienation including drug addiction and crime.

But for the wealthy and Welsh millionaires, with their large houses, holiday homes, leisure pursuits and four-wheel drives, the countryside remains a playground. The polarisation between rural rich and rural poor has widened with the privatisation of bus services and the collapse of much of the rural economy.

In many rural areas of Wales, Plaid Cymru has attracted voters. But this party is wedded to neoliberalism and in Gwynedd is currently carrying out the biggest school closure programme in Wales, shutting down small village schools that are the hearts of rural communities. On the Island of Ynys Mon, the leader of Plaid Cymru has publicly backed a new nuclear power station. In South Wales, Plaid has slavishly supported the militarisation of Wales and the expenditure of billions on a huge, privatised UK military academy at St Athan's to train the latest recruits to the 'War on Terror'. Significantly, RESPECT has been the only political party to contest elections on the basis of opposition to this development on the slogan, "Another Wales is Possible".

Cardiff RESPECT is in favour of rural regeneration in South Wales, and in this context, agitates for the development of a safe, sustainable and humane relationship with other species.

We support agricultural practices that take account of the preservation of habitats and ecosystems. We are against agriculture practices such as factory farming and intensive methods that are cruel to animals, or fishing methods which threaten the extinction of species or endanger sea mammals. We favour the expansion and development in Wales of permaculture and organic methods of agriculture and the creation of alternatives to "supermarket Britain".

CARDIFF RESPECT CALLS FOR:

* The proper implementation of the ban on hunting with dogs; and for humane methods of wildlife control. The "ban" on hunting with hounds has virtually no effect on hunting, so we support the direct action and activity of hunt saboteours in South Wales who continue to monitor and disrupt hunting in our region.
* An end to factory or intensive farming in Wales. Make Wales GM Free.
* An end to animal experimentation for cosmetic or other unnecessary purposes.
* Non-animal research methods to be properly funded.
* An end to live exports of animals, a limit on live transport time and strict control of conditions of transportation.
* The proper enforcement of animal protection.
* Control of sea fishing to allow stocks to recover.
* End sea-fishing methods, such as long-line fishing, which kill sea mammals and birds.
* Strict regulation of the pet trade.