Animal rights charity misleads Welsh Assembly candidates

The Welsh Countryside Alliance has called for the Charity Commission to intervene as an animal rights charity 'peddles lies and propaganda' ahead of the Welsh Assembly election.

A section on 'breeding of game birds' in the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) election 'candidate briefing' contains a photograph of what appears to be turkey poults in an unidentified cage system in an attempt to discredit the game rearing industry.

Welsh Countryside Alliance Director, Rachel Evans, said: "We have no idea where this picture comes from, but it is absolutely clear that the birds are not pheasants or partridges and that there are no pheasants or partridges reared in Wales in any system like that. The League Against Cruel Sports is deliberately attempting to mislead Assembly candidates and damage an important industry in rural Wales.

"The Charity Commission cannot allow animal rights organisations to peddle lies and propaganda to politicians under the cover of charitable status."

LACS has been censured by the Charity Commission for party political campaigning after the last two UK General Elections, and is currently being investigated after falsely denying to the Commission that it had paid the legal fees of its Chief Executive when he was prosecuted in relation to a pub brawl.

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Notes to editors
• The Value of Shooting Report (2014) finds that shooting is worth £75m to the Welsh economy http://www.shootingfacts.co.uk/