Birds of prey are being illegally killed in large numbers although prosecutions for the illegal killing these birds is at an all time low. There are clear pointers that these birds are mainly being killed, by shooting, pole traps and poisoning, in areas associated with game shooting. New legislation is required to make it possible to prosecute the organisations responsible for this slaughter as well as the individuals who actually perform the killing. We are in imminent danger of the extinction of several rare species of raptors, like Hen Harriers, So action is desperately needed.

The residents need peace of mind and relaxation at night so speed calming measures need to be put in place to stop our cars being damaged or written off, animals being killed and prevent the injury or death of a child as a result of people constantly excessively speeding, motorbikes doing wheelie's and mainly driving like lunatics. Our roads are used as a quick cut through, with vehicles usually driving faster than the 30 mph speed limit on a regular basis, in an attempt to beat the traffic on the busy Reading Road and then used as race tracks at night. The result of this behaviour is lots of damage to vehicles and losses of beloved animals. My daughter's car that she didn't know she had was written of by a speeding driver who fled the scene leaving no details early hours of 1st October 2017, as reported in the Henley Standard. Numerous cars have been side swiped or had wing mirrors damaged by speeding vehicles and we sit and listen to the screeching of brakes and await the bang of the collision on a regular basis in the evenings. I personally have witnessed a couple of cyclists being knocked off their bike's and motorcyclists doing wheelie's or tricks up the road, animals being hit and killed while the driver carries on their way without stopping. This needs to stop!!! It was bad enough when the road was covered in potholes but since it has been resurfaced it has become 10 times worse at least. It is only a matter of time before it becomes a pedestrian that is badly/critically injured.

The board of the National Trust must be aware that 84% of the population are against hunting animals.This so called 'sport' should be consigned to the history books. It is barbaric, cruel and totally unnecessary and ineffective in controlling numbers. It is a hateful pastime for the privileged and uncaring few who gain pleasure from witnessing panic, pain, bloodshed and a grizzly death. The hunting ban must be strengthened and implemented with the full force of the law.

Fireworks are a blight on all peoples lives as well as our animal kingdom. They are too loud and cause great destruction killing or maiming animals and humans. Also the loud decibels of the fireworks has a detrimental affect on those that have served us and have PTSD with being in war-zones as it reminds them of bombs etc going off. There are also idiots setting them off causing mayhem and cruelty to animals and other humans hence another reason to stop the sale of PUBLIC FIREWORKS!!

Oil based plastics & their role in waste pollution are undeniably one of the most prominent problems facing our planets ecology to date, it affects all of us and our future on this planet. While we and our industries now rely on them for various uses, we must ask ourselves whether the damage we are causing out weighs their necessity and also whether the financial costs of making the change are viable. I would hope every single person would quickly and clearly say that in the case of most plastics, the answer is *Yes*. So what can we do?.....There has been a solution and an alternative for a long time: bio-degradable plastics made from hemp cellulose. We aim to get legislation passed that all plastics where possible are replaced with 100% biodegradable plastics & the use of oil based plastics reduced to the most necessary of uses such as HDPE plastics for industrial purposes. This does not mean that we can just sit back and relax, the biodegradable plastics will still require diligent collection and the correct conditions to degrade. This change should be made along side methane capture projects to ensure the methane given off at all landfill is captured and used as an energy source and not just left to escape into the atmosphere. Whilst traditional plastics take a long time to decompose and release harmful toxins into the ground, hemp plastics do not. They do however release methane, which we must be vigilant of - but as stated above this also opens up possibilities in methane capture and re-useable energy. Increased recycling availability (especially near the coast) will be paramount, as will clear identification of biodegradable plastics but this small step will have a great impact for the planet we live on, as well as our future generations. On top of that the increased growth of hemp will have a substantial impact on reversing the effects of deforestation and open up a whole new industry for hemp use in 100's if not 1000's of applications, reducing our reliability on crude oil. Win Win Hemp was once our greatest and foremost industrial crop for thousands of years, it is only in the last few centuries that it has declined in the U.K. And USA especially, due to its affiliation with marijuana and outdated drug laws. Let's work together and make the world a better place 💚

I have lost two cats to antifreeze poisoning in a space of three months. The violent reaction they both had to the chemical was horrific. Both lost their vision and went into shock causing them to suffer aggressive seizures. Antifreeze causes blindness. Within minutes all vital organs begin to shut down. This causes the most unimaginable suffering. The only humane option is to euthanise should an animal ingest antifreeze/coolant. Please petition the relevant bodies so this needless suffering can be averted.

There is NO evidence that culling badgers makes any meaningful contribution to reducing the levels of bovine TB in cattle. The Randomised Badger Culling Trial, an 8-year, £50 million study during which 11,000 badgers were killed, produced no evidence of benefit. It found that only 1.67% of those 11,000 badgers had communicable bovine TB. The real culprits are not badgers but an outdated and inaccurate testing regime (missing 20-50% of all cases in cattle), poor biosecurity on farms, and millions of movements of cattle around the country. This year, DEFRA wants to see 33,000 badgers killed and Waitrose/Duchy have agreed to culling on their land in the west country. Two-thirds of the public are against badger culling and, as customers of Waitrose and John Lewis PLC, we call on the company to respect the science and to honour the views and feelings of their customers.

This is joey, our 13 month old pup and he has now been seized after dog wardens picked him up classing him as a stray after he slipped his collar, the police are trying to intimidate us by telling us Joey will suffer 6 months in their kennels and other nasty things they said to which I got all on record. We will not sign him over and we will fight until we get him back. This is a support page for Myself Martina & Joey. Currently waiting to open a case with a professional Solicitors that deal with this. Never thought this would ever happen as he’s such a kind loving puppy, my little sisters are as devastated as us. This is happening too often and many dogs are being destroyed purely because of their looks and being deemed a dangerous dog. It's absolutely wrong in so many ways. We need to stand up for our dogs and beat this BLS #SayNoToBls #ItsNotTheBreed #BringHomeJoeyBear

Brighton & Hove is a coastal city, meaning it must be on the frontline when it comes to tackling plastic pollution in our oceans. As 80% of marine litter originates from land, Brighton & Hove must do everything possible to stop this pollution at source. In 2016, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimated that by weight, there could be more plastic in our oceans than fish, as soon as 2050. Plastics are durable, strong and long-lasting – all positive elements until you realise that they will stay in our environment for up to an estimated 600 years. (Columbia University) Over 300 million tons of new plastic are made every year – half of which is for single use plastic, such as packaging and convenience foods. In many cases, such as plastic straws, takeaway food containers and coffee cups, there are practical alternatives available that are either reusable or sustainable. It is estimated that there are over 5.5 trillion pieces of plastic currently in our global ocean and over 8 million tons of plastic are dumped into our seas each year. This equates to one refuse truck FULL of plastic every minute. Marine plastic leads to coastal / offshore dead zones, entanglement, death through ingestion, toxic transfer and, once degraded into microplastics, contamination of the food chain – including our own. We are quite literally eating the plastic that has ended up in our seas. Sign this petition so we can persuade the council to act on the issue of single-use plastic waste.

Degus are social animals and need to live with company. They do better in groups they are familiar with as they can be difficult to introduce to other groups. Degus who live alone are at risk of depression even if they are lucky enough to receive lots of attention from humans. In certain cases, it can be impossible to integrate a single degu into another group, and leaving a lone degu behind from its companions can mean a lifetime of loneliness. While there are adoption schemes, many lone degus who enter such schemes are degus that were left behind and who were not sold with their group companions. We ask that Pets at Home ban their practice of allowing single degus to be left behind.

Up to 33,500 badgers will be shot this autumn in an attempt to control tuberculosis in cattle, a huge rise from the 10,000 killed in 2016. The government has announced that 11 new badger cull areas have been licensed, adding to the 10 already in place. Devon now has six badger culls under way, with Somerset and Wiltshire having three each, with others in Cheshire, Cornwall, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. The badger culls are highly controversial, with ministers and some farmers arguing they are a vital part of curbing bovine tuberculosis (bTB), which led to 29,000 cattle being slaughtered in 2016 at a cost of £100m. However, scientists say there is little evidence that the current culls will help cut bTB rates, and could spread the disease even further by disrupting badger populations. Ministers also announced the resumption of a badger vaccination scheme in “edge” areas between high and low TB regions. The scheme, suspended for the last two years due to a shortage of vaccine, will fund 50% of the costs of successful applicants. Restrictions on the movement of some high risk cattle are also being put in place – some scientists say this is the key to ending the epidemic. “Bovine TB not only has a devastating impact on our beef and dairy farms, but causes harm and distress to infected cattle,” said the farming minister George Eustice. “We have a clear plan to eradicate the disease over the next 20 years. Vaccination is just one part of our comprehensive strategy, which also includes tighter cattle controls, improved biosecurity and badger control in areas where bTB is rife to tackle the reservoir of disease in wildlife.” Each badger cull is set a minimum and maximum number of badgers to be shot. This is to ensure the animals are not wiped out locally, while killing enough for the cull to be effective – although scientists have previously criticised the government-set targets as “rubbish” and “ridiculously easy”. Taxpayers spend £500,000 on radios for badger cull marksmen Read more The total number of badgers to be killed across all the areas this autumn has been set at a maximum of 33,347 and a minimum of 21,797. The largest cull is one in Dorset that could see more than 7,000 badgers killed. The culls all met their targets in 2016, though earlier culls did not and were not effective or humane, according to an independent expert group that was subsequently disbanded by ministers. Minette Batters, deputy president of the National Farmers Union, said: “The NFU has always supported a comprehensive and proportionate eradication strategy, which balances disease controls measures with business sustainability. We must have every option available to us to tackle TB.” She also welcomed a new TB advisory service for farmers in risky areas. However, Prof Rosie Woodroffe, at the Zoological Society of London and who conducted a landmark 10-year trial on badger culling, said: “It’s depressing that the government is pursuing badger culling over such huge areas when the benefits remain so uncertain. Data published today suggest that, after three years of culling, cattle TB in the first cull zones was still no lower than that in unculled areas.” Steve Trotter, at the Wildlife Trusts, said: “We work closely with many farmers, day in, day out, and we recognise the pain and hardship of those whose cattle herds have been devastated by bTB, but killing badgers will not solve the problem. The primary route of infection is cattle-to-cattle contact. The government’s badger cull is flying in the face of science.” He said vaccination costs £82 per badger, compared to £6,800 per culled animal. Peter Martin, chairman of the Badger Trust, said: “Shooting badgers has been condemned as ‘inhumane’ by both the government’s own independent experts and the British Veterinary Association. “But it it’s also a disaster for cattle, Britain’s farmers and the taxpayer.”

1) To protect Green Belt Countryside, on the urban fringe, and Green Wedges that form wildlife and open space corridors into the urban areas. 2) To protect a valuable recreational resource that Dudley Council have hitherto promoted for public pleasure; its landscape, historic, nature conservation and cultural values. 3) To protect the individuality and distinctive character of the areas and communities 4) To further the strategy of urban regeneration by focussing attention upon renewal of derelict and previously developed brownfield sites. 5) Dudley Borough has sufficient land within the urban area to satisfy its housing and industrial requirements to the year 2036 and beyond. 6) The Green Wedges satisfy the function of preventing the coalescence of former Towns within the Borough. 7) Exceptional circumstances do not exist to warrant the release of Green Belt land for built development. 8) The inappropriate release of Green Belt land would damage the confidence of the public in respect of the designation of Green Belt.