Animal Rescue with Marion Garnett
Dedicated animal expert MARION GARNETT, founder of the Ealing Animal Charities Fair continues her column
BATTERSEA Park was awash with famous faces, Prince William, Jeremy Hunt, Rageh Omaar, Nicky Campbell to name a few plus you couldn’t move for diplomatic cars with specialised number plates smoothly sweeping in and out of the drive. Something important was going on – it was the conference on the trade in illegal wildlife hosted by the UK government.
Anyone who visited the last wildlife photographic competition at the Natural History Museum (Gazette May 16) and saw the haunting winning image of the endangered black rhino killed eight hours earlier with his horns sliced off will know how urgently action is needed to stop vile trade such as this.
Topics on the agenda included the need for comprehensive legislation to tackle the illegal ivory trade, how to ensure legislation is effectively implemented, building anti-corruption measures and reducing demand for illegal wildlife products.
I was not in a chauffeur-driven car but standing at Battersea park gate giving out Save The Asian Elephants leaflets (stae. org) to delegates. Regular readers won’t be surprised at the leaflet’s message – “Never ride an elephant”. The process involved in making an elephant submissive enough to accept a human onto their back (known as “pajan”) is brutal.
Of course, no visit to Battersea Park is complete without skipping round the corner to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. It was good to see the conference did not have a monopoly on titled guests – there, waiting to receive visitors was Dame, an ex-racing greyhound with an elegant walk befitting of her name.
However her teeth were not so elegant when she arrived at the rescue centre. After dental treated, this Dame is now ready for homing.
You can meet her at the rehoming centre in Battersea Park Road. As firework season approaches, Battersea has advice for owners on how to care for our cats and dogs at this time.
This includes making sure their microchip details are up-to-date, so if they run off, there is more chance of finding them again, keeping them in during evenings and making sure your home is escape-proof.
See more details at bluecross. org.uk.