Activist gets six-month suspended jail sentence for disrupting badger culls

Jay Tiernan of Stop the Cull campaign found in contempt of court for nine breaches of an injunction brought in by the National Farmers’ Union

Steven Morris

Wednesday 21 January 2015 15.59 GMT

A prominent animal rights campaigner has been given a six-month suspended jail sentence for breaking an injunction designed to prevent him from disrupting the trial badger culls.

Jay Tiernan, a leading campaigner in the Stop the Cull movement which backs direct action, was also ordered to pay costs that could total as much as £55,000.

High court judge, Sir David Eady, ruled that Tiernan was in contempt of court for nine breaches of an injunction secured by the farmers union the NFU, which championed the trial culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire.

The breaches ranged from Tiernan filming someone involved in the cull to him protesting outside an NFU office wearing a T-shirt reading: “FCK NFU”, and failing to pass on details of the injunction to other protesters.

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Badger cull protesters save trapped animal as second phase starts

Activists claim victory as renewed government bid to fight bovine TB sparks anger with critics blasting it as cruel and ineffective

Steven Morris

The Guardian, Tuesday 9 September 2014 18.56 BST

Protesters against the badger cull have claimed an early victory after activists convinced police to free a trapped animal as the second phase of the hugely controversial operation got under way.

The government confirmed on Tuesday that the second year of the cull had begun, sparking outrage from animal rights activists, campaigners and opposition politicians who claim it is cruel and ineffective.

Hundreds of volunteers are expected to be out in Gloucestershire and Somerset over the coming weeks, trying to disrupt the cull and looking out for injured badgers. The Stop the Cull group – which champions direct action – is expecting up to 50% more volunteers taking part in its campaign. This time some activists will use thermal imaging devices they say will allow them to spot cullers from up to 1km (0.6 miles) away. They are also planning to step up filming and photographing cull workers and publishing the images.

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Western Australia shark cull protesters remove bait from drum lines

Activists have taken action after the first shark is caught, shot and taken out to sea as part of controversial cull program

Shark cull activists have removed bait from drum lines in Western Australia's south-west after the first shark caught on the line was killed on Australia Day.

A three-metre female tiger shark was shot four times in the head, dragged out to sea and dumped after being caught a kilometre off Meelup Beach less than a day after the drum lines were set.

The fisherman who took the tender for the south-west said the shark was a threat to public safety and had to be removed.

"I'll continue to do it and then hopefully later we'll perhaps be able to take some samples or contribute in some way to knowledge and better understanding," he told Fairfax radio on Monday.

The fisherman, who asked not to be named, said protesters had kept away from his vessel and he believed the shark died quickly.

"I was satisfied that I managed to get the rounds in the right place and we dispatched it as quickly as we possibly could," he said.

But the president of West Australians for Shark Conservation, Ross Weir, said it was an inhumane way of killing the animal and about 22 activists were keeping an eye on the fisherman's activities.

"They have been out on the water and they have removed baits from the lines," he said.

Weir said the fisherman did not have experience with sharks and his .22 rifle was not an appropriate gun.

Sea Shepherd Australia’s managing director, Jeff Hansen, said it was a cruel and painful death for the shark, which could have been stuck for hours.

"How can we condemn Japan for the indiscriminate killing of whales and dolphins, and do this to our precious protected marine life here in Australia?" he said. "This method is utterly cruel and inhumane and these animals can take many hours to die."

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Far-Right Extremists Chased Through London by Women Dressed as Badgers

A rally by extremists from the British National Party and the English Defence League was dwarfed by opposition campaigners staging rival protests in London on Saturday 1 June.

Shortly after lunch, a die-hard core of around 50 BNP and EDL supporters was confronted outside parliament by hundreds of activists from anti-extremist groups including Unite Against Fascism and Hope Not Hate.

But in the event, both groups were upstaged by agitators of a different stripe. Decked out from head to toe in black and white, the group that won the day were campaigning neither for race war nor ethnic equality, but an end to the government's cull on badgers.

And it was the pro-badger campaigners who appeared to steal a march on the political activists.

Young women dressed in fake fur were seen chasing doughty nationalist supporters down London's Whitehall as a large number of security forces in iridescent jackets looked on from police lines.

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