New book addresses wildlife management concerns

The Veterinary Association for Wildlife Management (VAWM) commissioned a new book, The Facts of Rural Life, to address a number of concerns it has on the management of wildlife in the countryside. The book is now available for £10 and addresses concerns such as:

• the loss, or potential loss, of many vulnerable species;
• the consequences of ill-thought through legislation;
• the problems created by over protectionism;
• the failure to recognise, or even understand, any need for pro-active management of certain dominant species.

VAWM is particularly frustrated by the simplistic vision of the countryside and its wild inhabitants that is so often portrayed on television and in the popular press.

The author, Charlie Pye-Smith, is a respected writer on environmental topics, both in the UK and the developing world. Charlie has undertaken an extensive research programme of field visits and interviews with scientists, veterinarians, landowners, farmers and wildlife practitioners including conservationists, gamekeepers and huntsmen.

In the book Charlie observes: "It would be hard to think of a more inept or unenforceable law than the 2004 Hunting Act. Yet you would think, judging by the amount of time Parliament spent debating the issue and taking evidence – the equivalent to some seventeen 40-hour weeks – that this would have been one of the most carefully thought through pieces of legislation to hit the books for many years. Proponents of the ban would like you to think it was."

The Facts of Rural Life provides a valuable resource for politicians, the media and anyone genuinely concerned about conservation, animal welfare and the future of Britain's countryside..

Copies of The Facts of Rural Life may be purchased at £10 per book, or £40 for 5 books, with cheques payable to VAWM through Brian Fanshawe, Old School House, Ashley, Tetbury, Glos. GL8 8SX.

Enquiries to Jim Barrington 07867 740154 or Brian Fanshawe 01666 575474.