The deeper you dig..........?

The story from Woburn gets more interesting by the minute…. read part two of this story.

A previous post on this site revealed that canned hunts of Pere Davids’s deer, a species extinct in the wild, was being promoted by Woburn Safari Park. “Hunters” apparently will pay big bucks to shoot a trophy buck of these rare species, and the 15th Duke of Bedford, Andrew Ian Russell (pictured), is a willing partner. He says the money earned (£6000 per buck) will go straight back into management of his herd of Pere David’s deer on his estate. Mr Russell also allows hunting of Muntjacs and Sika deer among others on his property.

Now basically, Andrew Russell runs a safari park, a zoo with a bit more space for the animals. Or maybe not? Last month, Woburn was accused by a Government inspection team of keeping lions in tiny cages for up to 18 hours per day. Woburn is consulting lawyers to take action against this negative press, and Jake Veasey, Director of Woburn Safari Park, recently made a statement that animals at Woburn are cared for according to the highest standards. Really?

It seems the deeper you dig with Woburn, the more interesting little facts emerge. For example, in 1992 (at least) Woburn sold primates to Shamrock GB Ltd, a primary supplier of laboratory research animals in the UK. How long has this been going on? It also appears that trophy hunting on Woburn has been going on for at least ten years – a hunter by the name of Edward D. Yates, facilitated by Kevin Downer of Jeff C. Neal Inc. is listed by the Hunting Report as having hunted Pere David’s deer and a few other deer species on Woburn in October 1999 (http://www.huntingreport.com/hunting_article_list.cfm?animal=Deer, Pere David Hunting). And Mr Russell has been selling a bit of art here and there, like a porcelain vase worth £1 million and a bronze statuette worth £2.5 million. And the Duke owns about 170 rental properties in central London. And Woburn Safari Park probably earns about £8 million from 500,000 visitors per year. And Jake Veasey is a member of the Zoos Forum, whose Secretariat is coordinated by DEFRA. So when DEFRA vets visited Woburn and pronounced a level of mistreatment among lions kept in small cages, why does Jake consider it appropriate to consider legal action against a broadsheet that publicised the report?

On 6 July, I will be interviewed by BBC Three Counties Radio (Bedfordshire) on this issue. Hopefully the 15th Duke of Bedford will be on the line as well. I can only sympathise with him, as he will get a proper grilling if the radio host permits.

Going forward, I can only hope that the current Duke of Bedford will mend his ways in terms of the management of Woburn Safari Park. In the best scenario he will apologize and replace his management team. In the worst scenario he will stick to his guns, make feeble excuses, and hope that another 500,000 visitors will arrive at Woburn. If that should be the case, I would urge potential visitors to go to a cinema instead.

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