Animal Concern Advice Line News 2019

December 15^th 2019: Animal Concern is much quoted in an article in today's Observer newspaper concerning the pair of political prisoner pandas who have nearly served their full ten million dollar sentence at Edinburgh Zoo. You'll find the piece on the Observer website here:

November 15^th 2019: John Robins is on about flying pigs and Unicorns again. He's talking nonsense but he says the candidates in the General Election started it. Find out more here:

November 15^th 2019: The Scottish Government have confirmed to ACAL that they have no intention of reviewing the principal of the General Licence scheme which permits the mass slaughter of many species of native wild birds. We have asked the Scottish Parliament to intervene and force the Government to act. Full details here:

November 12^th 2019: Animal Concern has made a submission to the Scottish Government consultation on the new sentencing powers proposed under the Animals and Wildlife (Scotland) Bill. You can read their submission on the Animal Concern website here:

November 1^st 2019: John Robins has criticised the Scottish Government for asking people to report firework misuse to Crimestoppers instead of direct to the police on 999. More on the Animal Concern website here:

October 20^th 2019: The Aquaculture Stewardship Council today ended a consultation on standards of animal welfare on fish farms. The response they got from Animal Concern was probably not what they expected. Read them over on the Animal Concern website here:

October 10^th 2019: Animal Concern supporters are in for as busy weekend with a list of campaign tasks from John Robins. If you want to help there are full details on the Animal Concern website here:

October 06^th 2019: It's a pity John Robins is not as good at forecasting lottery numbers as he is at predicting how Government Departments mislead politicians and the public. His prophecy on the SNH consultation on General Licenses was spot on. I foretell that his emails to the Government will leave you feeling angry. Find out here:

October 02^nd 2019: Using the Freedom of Information Act we have finally obtained some information about the £2,000,000 Government donation and £500,000 low-interest Government loan given to Edinburgh Zoo to build a new cell for their political prisoner Pandas. Believe it or not the Government withheld some of the information we asked for “ … because disclosure of this information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially relations between the United Kingdom and China.” We have appealed against that decision and while we await a ruling on that appeal we have raised the issue once again with the First Minister. You will find our email to Nicola Sturgeon here:

September 17^th 2019: Following Animal Concern's request that they investigate the latest spill of salmon farm morts onto a Scottish main road, SEPA have very quickly ascertained that they are "… satisfied waste wouldn't have entered any watercourses". This prompted John Robins to use Freedom of Information laws to ask SEPA how they managed to come to this conclusion so quickly. You can read his FOI request on the Animal Concern website here:

September 15^th 2019: There has been yet another spill of rotting dead salmon onto a Scottish roadway. Wearing his Animal Concern wellies John Robins has asked Highland Council, the Animal & Plant Health Agency and SEPA to fully investigate this incident and the overall situation regarding transport of toxic waste from fish farms. He also asked Scottish Government Ministers to stop the road transport of salmon morts until such time as the transport of such dangerous materials can be made as safe as possible. John sent SEPA links to a Facebook film showing the aftermath of the incident. If you have smelly-vision on your computer I suggest turning it off before following those links which you will find within the Animal Concern email to SEPA here:

September 7^th 2019: Following very serious allegations about wildlife crimes on the Leadhills Estate, Animal Concern has asked the Cabinet Secretary for Justice to look into the issue. Their email to Humza Yousaf includes a link to the Raptor Persecution Scotland blog containing the allegations. You'll find the email on the Animal Concern website here:

August 30^th 2019: If Animal Concern Advice Line supporters thought they were going to have a quiet weekend John Robins had other ideas. He had plenty for them to do in his latest email to supporters which you can read here:

August 28^th 2019: Animal Concern has objected to a planning application for a new salmon farm off the coast of Skye. You can read their submission on the Animal Concern website here:

August 28^th 2019: Animal Concern is mentioned again in another article about the upcoming protest by Scottish Salmon Watch. You can read about it in The Herald newspaper here:

Link leads to heraldscotland.com Checked and working as of August 28^th 2019

August 27^th 2019: Animal Concern is supporting a “Reclaim Our Seas” protest by Scottish Salmon Watch. You can read about it in The Scotsman newspaper here:

Link leads to scotsman.com Checked and working as of August 27^th 2019

August 13^th 2019: John Robins has suggested a far more effective way of dealing with pirate fishing boats: Full details on The Herald website here:

Link leads to heraldscotland.com Checked and working as of August 13^th 2019

August 12^th 2019: The Herald newspaper has revealed the lenient and secretive way the Scottish authorities have dealt with skippers breaking fishing laws. Full details on The Herald website here:

Link leads to heraldscotland.com Checked and working as of August 12^th 2019

August 2^nd 2019: Along with Animal Concern, Animal Concern Advice Line has has, in a small way, helped to fund the Scottish Salmon Watch campaign against those filthy floating foreign-owned factory fish farms much beloved by the Scottish Government. Our John Robins is a stickler for Health & Safety (he's a bit of a wimp really) and when he viewed the latest fish farm footage taken by Scottish Salmon Watch the old boy nearly ruined yet another pair of underpants. He contacted the Health and Safety Executive and within days they told the farm owners to clean up their act. John said later; “Good for the HSE. I've been unsuccessfully trying to get the British and then the Scottish Governments to tell salmon farmers to clean up their act for over thirty years.” on the Animal Concern website, here:

June 20^th 2019: Freedom of Information laws have proved crucial to many of our campaigns but some Government agencies are no longer playing by the book. Animal Concern has a made a submission to the Scottish Government Consultation on this issue asking for changes to ensure the principal of open Government is upheld. You can read their submission here:

June 1^st 2019: We have asked supporters in Scotland to lobby their MSPs in support of moves by MSP Andy Wightman to force hunting estates to obtain full planning permission before bulldozing hunting access tracks across mountains and moorlands. Full details here:

May 28^th 2019: ACAL has again written to all MSPs on the subject of the SNH General License scheme for bird culls. Our John Robins is extremely critical of SNH as you will see here:

May 22^nd 2019: The Scottish Sun newspaper has discovered that the Scottish Government has quietly slipped Edinburgh Zoo a few bob of public money to help keep a pagoda roof over the heads of those two Chinese political prisoner pandas Sunshine and Sweetie. According to the story Edinburgh Zoo want another couple of bob to cover some unforeseen problems with the new enclosure. They want the Scottish Government, sorry Scottish taxpayers, to add half a million quid to the two million they've already got out of us! You can find out more here:

May 21^st 2019: Last night BBC TV broadcast an excellent Panorama investigation titled “Salmon Farming Exposed”. ACAL has asked all Members of the Scottish Government to watch the programme and then do something to stop salmon farming destroying our marine environment. Full details here:

May 16^th 2019: The Co–op have replied to John Robins regarding his e–mail of 3rd May about their use of the word sustainable to describe their salmon sandwiches. They won't be doing it again! Read the Co–op response, find out why John wants tougher laws on product description and see his admission that he too has been guilty of wrongfully describing farmed salmon by clicking on this link here:

May 12^th 2019: Animal Concern Advice Line has made a submission to the Scottish Government Consultation on Fireworks. You can read it here:

May 6^th 2019: After over a decade of campaigning we may be close to seeing major changes to the way the Scottish Government licences the killing of perhaps over a hundred thousand native wild birds every year. Full details here:

May 3^rd 2019: The Co–op are advertising “sustainable” salmon farmed in Scotland. Our John Robins is not convinced and has asked the Co–op to prove it. Read his e–mail here:

April 26^th 2019: We have made a joint submission with Animal Concern to the Scottish Government review of sentencing under the Animal Health & Welfare Scotland Act 2006. You can read it in full, typos and all, here:

April 26^th 2019: ACAL achieved a ban on giving animals as prizes in Scotland in 2006. Thirteen years later ACAL has asked supporters to lobby their MPs in a bid to have that ban extended to the rest of the UK. Full details here:

April 21^st 2019: John Robins had letters in both the Herald on Sunday and Sunday Post on Easter Sunday. The Sunday Post doesn't appear to publish their letters page online but you can read his letter in the Herald on Sunday in which he manages to go from defending Glaswegian parakeets to attacking salmon farming in just four short paragraphs. His letter is at the bottom of the page on this link to the Herald on Sunday website:

Link leads to www.heraldscotland.com/ Checked and working as of April 21^st 2019

April 14^th 2019: Wearing his Animal Concern hat John Robins was asked to comment on a case involving greyhounds and cocaine. There was a bit of a mix–up with the photo captions as you can see on the Scottish Sun website here:

Link leads to thescottishsun.co.uk. Checked and working as of April 14^th 2019

March 26^th 2019: Spring has sprung and instead of lambs gambolling in the fields people are gambling on them at the races. We have asked Cotswold District Council to intervene and stop the exploitation of sheep at the Andoversford Sheep Races due to take place on April 7th. More here:

March 25^th 2019: After yet another case of a drunken yob swallowing a live goldfish he had just won at a fairground, ACAL has asked Michael Gove to follow Scotland's lead and make it illegal to offer live animals as prizes in England and Wales. The incident happened at the Bridgwater Fair on land owned by Sedgemoor District Council. ACAL has also written to the Council asking them to insert a clause into their letting agreements to ban the giving of live animals as prizes at events on council owned property. Our e-mail to Michael Gove here:

March 22^nd 2019: Supporters of Animal Concern and Animal Concern Advice Line have been asked to participate in the Scottish Government consultation on fireworks. The consultation closes on 13^th May 2019. Full details here:

January 17^th 2019: We have asked Police Scotland to investigate the legality of the methods being used by SNH to kill and maim geese on Islay. More here:

January 16^th 2019: John Robins was wearing his Save Our Seals Fund sou'wester just before Christmas. He wasn't very impressed by the RSPCA response regarding an extremely sick seal found on a Norfolk beach. He has now suggested to the RSPCA some simple ways they could greatly improve their services to animals in distress. Full details here:

January 11^th 2019: ACAL have asked all Members of the Scottish Parliament to visit the ACAL website and view the damning evidence of the extreme cruelty of the Islay Goose Management Scheme. More here:

January 10^th 2019: Animal Concern Advice Line has obtained new evidence showing the extreme cruelty involved in the Scottish Government funded Islay Goose Management programme. The official name for this cruelty is “crippling”. Full details here:

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