17 February 2005

The ban on hunting with dogs may be foremost in the public mind over the coming days, but animal welfare campaigners are already turning their thoughts to future targets. From the RSPCA, the largest animal welfare organisation in the UK, to local hunt saboteur groups, campaigners are considering their next moves.

Well, almost. While the ban on hunting with hounds was making its seemingly interminable journey through the bowels of Parliament, campaigners were already working on a wide range of animal issues. In recent years, the RSPCA has launched big investigations into dog-fighting, the illegal transportation of racing greyhounds to Spain, badger-digging in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and the illegal importation of tortoises from North Africa. It has even campaigned for a maximum noise level for fireworks because they scare the animals (40,000 Britons have pledged their support). And the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) - with the RSPCA and League Against Cruel Sports (LACS), a strong force behind the hunting ban - has been working to reduce the number of dolphins and porpoises accidentally caught by trawlers around Britain.

Hunt saboteurs have been disrupting game shoots since 1978 - and anti-angling campaigners have reportedly disrupted fishing by putting on waterproof gear and jumping in to scare off the fish. But now that hunting is certain to be outlawed, where will those who've fought successfully for the ban set their sights?

George (not his real name), 35, has dedicated 20 years of his life to campaigning against hunting. He started as a hunt saboteur at theage of 15, and admits that it quickly became an "obsession". He has worked undercover for anti-hunt groups and has paid a heavy price for his convictions: he's been shot at, had bones broken and taken more beatings than he can remember. So now hunting is banned, what's next? "I'll keep on looking at hunting with dogs for at least another year," he says. "What happens next depends on how law-abiding the hunters are. If they are flouting the law day in, day out, I'll have no option but to keep on doing what I'm currently doing.

"But there are several other campaigns I'd like to get involved in: the trade in exotic pets and the ivory trade, for example. The campaign to ban hunting has proved how useful covert filming and undercover work can be, and I'd really like to adopt those ideas for more worldwide campaigns."

Another campaigner, who has worked undercover and who also asked not to be named, says commercial game shooting is likely to be the next big target. "There's a vast amount of work to do to clean it up. There's a major problem with snaring - gamekeepers putting down wires to catch stoats, weasels, hedgehogs and other animals that eat game birds and their eggs. I think there's widespread support for [a ban], but perhaps not the political will because no one wants to upset the countryside even more at the moment.

"The animal welfare movement is going on forever. There are a vast amount of campaigns out there. If I was to guess, I'd say that game shooting, factory farming and live exports are all likely targets after the ban. But it's hard to predict what will go first. I don't think that shooting will be banned in the next 30 years, but I bet it will be under much more pressure than it is now." The LACS has already turned its attention to shooting. "Our work with hunting is now over. We'll be monitoring the ban for a while, but we are also looking at commercial game shooting," says a spokesperson. The LACS says there are 2,000 estates and farms in Britain involved in rearing and shooting between 25 and 36 million game birds, such as pheasant and grouse, every year. Of these, they say, only 12 million are shot by paying customers - others die of disease, are killed on roads or are eaten by predators. It estimates that 12,300 animals are killed every day in the UK to protect gamebirds. "We think the animal welfare concerns around commercial shoots are very great, and it's up to us to expose this to the public," the spokesman says.

The LACS has also launched a campaign against trophy hunting - big game shooting overseas. "Apart from the absolutely reprehensible nature of shooting things for kicks, we are concerned that hunters are killing animals that are endangered," the spokesperson says. The organisation has produced two reports on UK companies that arrange game-hunting trips. It is also campaigning for better conditions for greyhounds in the racing industry.

Commercial game shooting is also a big concern for AnimalAid. "We have been investigating this for five years," says Andrew Tyler, its director. "We're calling for a total ban on the production of birds to be shot for sport. We estimate that only a quarter of all the birds reared are actually eaten - the others either die before the shoots or are shot and then buried. It's revolting. As soon as hunting is off the radar, we hope that anti-bloodsports campaigners will join us." Tyler is concerned about the use of animals for drug-testing - and what he sees as increasing government powers to outlaw peaceful protest. "At the moment there's an element of hysteria about animal rights protests. A significant number of court injunctions have been granted that severely threaten campaigners and members of the public's right to protest." While he acknowledges that some people in the movement engage in threats and property damage, he says that the injunctions and new laws against animal rights protesters are dangerous. "We are very concerned about this," he says. AnimalAid, too, has an anti-racing campaign. "We are trying alert the public to the fact that hundreds of horses die each year in racing or training," says Tyler.

However, while the hunting ban united the animal welfare lobby, campaigns against shooting are likely to divide it. Two of the organisations, those with the most money and public support - the IFAW and the RSPCA - are unequivocally against a campaign.

"We have no plans to campaign against shooting in the UK," says IFAW's Gill Sanders. "The RSPCA has no plans whatsoever to do any work on hunting or fishing," echoes David Bowles, the organisation's Head of Campaigns. "It's simply a myth that we're going to move on to shooting and fishing. It would be silly for us to open up a whole new area when there is no public and political support for it," he says - though he concedes that "snaring is a problem from an animal welfare point of view".

The RSPCA intends to work on up to eight high-profile campaigns this year, focusing on conditions for broiler chickens (817 million reared annually) and laying hens; the impact of European Union chemical testing legislation on research animals (2.8 million of them in the UK); action from the EU on the importation of birds caught in the wild (numbers unknown); and a push in the UK to get the Animal Welfare Bill brought into law (which would apply to 14 million cats and dogs, a million horses and numerous small domestic animals). "Current animal welfare legislations is 94 years old and we really don't want it to pass its centenary," says Bowles.

The IFAW, by contrast, is still deciding what to concentrate on next. "In the first instance, we'll be monitoring hunting, but we're still talking at the moment about what direction we will take after the ban," says Sanders. "We are already looking at the issue of exotic animals kept as pets. A year ago, IFAW in the US found 24 tigers that were being kept in someone's backyard in New York State. While we obviously don't expect to find anything on that scale here, there are concerns about reptiles, such as lizards, snakes and tortoises, as well as birds. Wild capture still takes place and many animals die in capture or in transit. When they are sold, the new owners often don't keep them in adequate conditions." The organisation is just about to start a major new investigation, but is resolutely tight-lipped about what it entails.

What should animal welfare organisations be concentrating on? Donald Broom is professor of animal welfare at Cambridge University's Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine. He is unequivocal about what the most pressing issue is. "It's the poor treatment of meat chickens - because of the leg disorders they develop in the latter part of their development. This affects tens of millions of birds a month," he says. "We shouldn't do things that are cruel, even if it involves a small number of animals."