AN excerpt from a World Wildlife Fund report published in October reads: “Global wildlife populations have plummeted by 69 per cent on average since 1970. The staggering rate of decline is a severe warning that the rich biodiversity that sustains all life on our planet is in crisis, putting every species at risk — including us.”    

This shocking statistic was released in time for the Cop27 summit currently taking place in Egypt. But it is just a statistic, and like all statistics, no matter how alarming, it fails to capture hearts and minds or to truly convey urgency.   

Humanity’s use and exploitation of animals in various spheres of life is controversial. Humanity throughout history has developed complex relations with the other species inhabiting this world.    

Some species it adopts almost as family members and attempts to anthropomorphise them (with varying degrees of success). Others it enslaves and uses as beasts of burden or uses them for entertainment. Others it incarcerates and slaughters for food.    

An interesting interview on Radio 4’s PM programme recently offered a graphic example of the confused relationship humans have with animals.    

A poultry farmer, now required to keep her large free-range poultry flock inside sheds owing to the bird flu epidemic, explained, without a hint of irony, that she will need to provide mental stimulation for the hens because they are “equally as intelligent and affectionate as dogs,” and she described how they recognise and greet her and jump onto her lap to be stroked.    

Industrially farmed free-range hens are normally sent to abattoirs when their laying capacity declines, usually within one year of life — they rarely reach two. The normal lifespan of a hen is about 10 years, though they can reach 15 years.   

I could not help wondering how the poultry farmer would feel about sending her one-year-old dog to slaughter.   

Those that fall outside the categories of domestic pets, working or farm animals are regarded as wild. But falling into the wild category does not ensure freedom from human domination and destructive activities — far from it.    

Another recent report worth considering is the Emissions Gap report by the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP), which states there is now “no credible pathway to 1.5°C in place” — the 2015 Paris Agreement stated that the world must stay within in the 1.5°C global temperature rise in order to avoid catastrophic climate change and the potential collapse of life-sustaining ecosystems.    

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said in his pre-Cop27 statement that instead of 1.5°C the world is now heading to a calamitous 2.8°C temperature rise by the end of the century, and in his opening speech at Cop27 he gave the chilling warning: “We are on a highway to hell with our foot still on the accelerator.”   

The UNEP report identifies that humanity’s current food systems account for one third of the world’s carbon emissions, and stipulates that human dietary changes are essential if we are to survive — and a substantial reduction in meat and dairy production is an imperative.    

Raising animals for food already occupies more than a third of the Earth’s surface and uses up to a third of freshwater supplies, making it one of the most resource-draining industries.   

The animal agricultural industry has been identified as a leading cause of air pollution, deforestation, species extinction and habitat loss and of zoonotic diseases such as Covid — and that’s before we even get onto “dead zones” in the oceans.   

Looking at the British countryside specifically, the first thing to note is that what we call the countryside is most definitely not wilderness. Our countryside is a checkerboard landscape of squared-off uniform acreages used for crop cultivation — much of which is for animal feed in order to produce meat. Most of the rest is grazing land also for meat and dairy production.    

Any woodlands in Britain are heavily managed and mostly small, and the wildlife that inhabits them is carefully monitored, controlled, and often culled if it appears to be breeding too successfully.    

A new report released by the Natural History Museum states that little space is left for nature in Britain. Therefore, the most bizarre human activity, given the utterly depleted condition of any remaining wilderness, has to be the hunting of wild animals.    

Although the Hunting Act 2004 does in theory ban the hunting of most wild mammals (notably foxes, deer, hares, and mink) with dogs in England and Wales, there are clauses and loopholes. For example, the Act “does not cover the use of dogs in the process of flushing out an unidentified wild mammal, nor does it affect drag hunting, where hounds are trained to follow an artificial scent.” These clauses are taken full advantage of by established hunts eager to continue their “sporting” activities of terrorising wildlife.   

Each year the League Against Cruel Sports and other wildlife charities receive distressing reports from members of the public about suspected illegal hunting.    

These reports are not only regarding wild animals that are chased and killed, but also about the mayhem hunts cause by tearing across private and public land on horseback driving packs of hounds, using public roads and even railway lines, with hounds chasing and attacking farm animals and even killing pets. Just last week several hounds were hit by a train and killed.   

That is where the Hunt Saboteurs Association comes in. Hunt saboteurs are the good guys who attempt to ensure no laws are broken by the hunters when they ride out decked in their traditional regalia astride their equine transportation surrounded by numerous underfed hounds — which have of course been thoroughly briefed on the Hunting Act restrictions.   

The saboteurs follow and monitor the hunts, photographing and filming events, and when appropriate, submit their evidence of law-breaking to the police so the laws can be enforced. Most saboteurs report that the authorities are anything but supportive or grateful to them for performing their civic duty.   

Here in Cornwall, where I have lived for 50 years, West Cornwall Hunt Saboteurs, along with Action Against Foxhunting Cornwall, and Kernow Sabs, Monitors and Animal Rights Team, are an inspiring example of wildlife advocacy. Members give an inordinate amount of their spare time in order to preserve and protect what little wildlife we are fortunate enough to still have.   

It is a thankless task, as the sabs frequently come in for verbal and physical abuse and sometimes assault from the hunting fraternity and their supporters. Yet many local people often cling to the “it’s a tradition” trope and believe in the deception put out by hunts that it is sabs who engage in illegal and aggressive actions.    

The reach of the privileged elite can still have a mesmeric influence on the attitudes of rural populaces. But this is changing. This year alone has seen many pubs, particularly in Cornwall, removing their welcome mats to hunt meets, and they are now advertising themselves as “blood-sport-free venues.”

As the Cop27 summit in Egypt continues to hold the attention of the world, here at home we can maybe do our bit to help by supporting and encouraging the one tiny sector of humanity that is giving all it’s got to protect and save what little wildlife we still have left — let’s hear it for the hunt saboteurs.