annie
Intermediate Poster
Posts: 245
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Post by annie on Mar 14, 2008 12:44:18 GMT 1
Thanks Smudge for the letter. I'll adapt it slightly and wing it off to my local MP and others.
I'm all up for a march - I don't care whereabouts in the country. I think maybe a mass march would have more of an impact. I'm from the midlands but I'm quite happy to travel down to London.
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Post by Lorraine L on Mar 14, 2008 12:59:27 GMT 1
Just an idea as so many wonderful thought are coming in, Shall we move this into the Personal Missions section of the board ? I will add a thread for us to post the letters which we have sent so far. Please add whatever you think will help - thank you
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Post by indibindi on Mar 14, 2008 13:30:51 GMT 1
I think it might have a better profile on the main board... its a massively important issue and I think it needs top billing... just my opinion its not really a personal mission or appeal - its one that could potentially affect every single horse owner in this country...
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Post by Admin on Mar 14, 2008 13:33:10 GMT 1
Sorry, just trying keeping it all together so that nothing gets lost in the general section. Will add a note in General as well
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EMW-UK
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Post by EMW-UK on Mar 14, 2008 13:51:47 GMT 1
RIGHT to organise a public march into London or more precisely to hand over petition/letters/ demands etc we need to give the Metropolitan Police 6 days clear notice that is what we are doing and our route from start to finish, as well as start times and name and address and contact numbers of who is organising the event. We need special authorisation to allow us within 1 square kilometre of parliament buildings. all of this is very possible but needs co-ordinating. emw.
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newimage
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Post by newimage on Mar 14, 2008 14:11:45 GMT 1
Count me in! Great letter smudge, will use it to send to my local mp's. I have recently wrote to them, my local council, rspca and the minister for animal welfare re the amersham case. I got replies to most of them, but very negative replies. I'm also collecting signatures and helping the VFH campaign. There is a long way to go for us to make people listen who still think animals are at the bottom of the food chain and don't deserve respect and recognition. It is an attitude that disgusts me and makes me angry and upset.
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EMW-UK
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Post by EMW-UK on Mar 14, 2008 14:44:31 GMT 1
don't forget to CC your letters to Jacqui Smith MP - Home Secretary. If we want laws changed then we need it to be brought to attention of the chief law makers.
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Post by st4ffsmum on Mar 14, 2008 14:50:11 GMT 1
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Post by annalee on Mar 14, 2008 17:11:22 GMT 1
You're doing a great job here guys and any help I can be, just shout.
If you are going to start a petition around yards and tack shops etc, have you got a template or something similar with perhaps some piccies. We could then forward our e-mail addresses and have them down loaded and printed off.
The message will need to be very clear and even graphic if need be to get maximum signatures, maybe get some posters put up for car windows etc.
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Post by luckyrider on Mar 14, 2008 19:03:34 GMT 1
Smudge, that letter is brilliant, just brilliant.
I understand why you have gone for the "horses as property" angle and talked about the financial investment and time costs of owning a horse. You also point out the emotional involvement -- could this part be developed more? Because for me, the worst part of these attacks is the grieving the owner has to go through. I also hear the point made earlier that we should not go so far as to suggest that it is like losing a child, but at the same time, owners whose horses are killed go through such hell and surely sentences can reflect the loss of "property", time investments etc, PLUS the sheer hell the owner has to live with following these crimes.
At any rate, it is such a brilliant letter I will post a link on EE and ask them to get writing.
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Post by st4ffsmum on Mar 14, 2008 19:26:52 GMT 1
I think as horse lovers losing a horse like that would be comparable with losing a child? Maggie was certainly Davinas baby. I can understand the comparison, but I am sure a non horse/animal lover would say otherwise ???How could a non horse lover truely understand the bond, attachment and feelings you can have with a horse. Horses and dogs to me are like no other creature, the bond we have with them.
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Post by rosemaryhannah on Mar 14, 2008 19:38:11 GMT 1
I'm not sure how much good petitions do - if you can persuade an MP to ask a question in the House it would have more impact, I think. Would the MP of Davina's constituency be up for asking such a question? Would one of our other members who lives in her area be prepared to approach the MP so it does not all fall on Davina and to ask him if he would ask a question? You need to go to a constituency surgery, and discuss the matter with him, and keep calm however strongly you feel. I would suggest: 'Is the Right Honourable Member for [Blank] aware that horrific, brutal and cruel attacks against horses attack a maximum sentence of x years, and, if the case is treated in the Magistrates Court, a maximum sentence of six months? In view of research suggesting a close link between violence against animals and violence against humans, does the Right Honourable Member think this is an adequate way of dealing with this crime?'
Might I suggest we need a focus for Maggie's Law - what law do we want it to be? I would suggest that we need to find out exactly what the current law IS and then to decide how we want it amended. We need to be aware in drafting our proposals, that we do NOT want an old lady who accidentally starves her goldfish or a sportsman out shooting pheasant or a farmer controlling crows - not even a learning disabled person keeping too many dogs in a small flat - we don't want these in our sights, do we? What I take it we are looking for is legalisation which takes seriously deliberate (and not necessarily planned) attacks designed to harm or cause suffering to animals. We want these treated more seriously. What do we want? A register of those causing deliberate suffering to animals? (We could argue for this on the grounds of the link with against-human violence but it is a VERY expensive thing to maintain, and there will be big resistance) Stiffer sentences (always popular with the public, but not so much so with those who have to fund our ever-expanding prison population - and there is much evidence that prison does little good)
Or is there a better suggestion? What do you want Maggie's Law to BE??? Because you have to ask for something clear, and we all have to ask together, or we won't get it.
Will attempt to draft letter tomorrow - I only have one evening off and this is it!
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Post by rosemaryhannah on Mar 14, 2008 19:41:17 GMT 1
I have to say, as the mother of five children, and about to be a grandmother - No, dearly as I love my horses, they are not equivalent to my children. And I think arguing that they are will lose us support. I would never, ever cause deliberate suffering to one of my horses, I make huge sacrifices to keep them, and I have two who are only here because they have nowhere else to go, and it means I sleep in an unheated room all winter. BUT if I had to see one of them humanely shot, or my pregnant daughter shot - no contest, I'm afraid.
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madmare1
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Post by madmare1 on Mar 14, 2008 20:32:43 GMT 1
Anything I can do to help..just let me know. I organised a 600 signature petition inside 3 days when the local town wanted to take over our village and 9 others. I had a public meeting, press coverage, and an interview for the TV.
Also active in planning the Countryside Alliance Liberty and Livelihood march and the beacons that lit up the countryside.
I am also a trained journalist, and am willing to write press releases, if people want to email pics of the attacked horses to me..I know they'll be graphic...I can incorporate them into a press release. Also, pics of the two convicted for Maggie's death if you could.
I'm definitely going to have a word with my local MP...he'll be in the village in a week, so I'll ask him what can be done. As he's a friend as well, it kind of makes things easier. As to the content of the law...then it should be a minimum sentence, and if a community punishment is the order of the judge...it should be in a stables/RDA centre..then they can see what kind of a difference these animals make to lives of all who have them.
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Post by rosemaryhannah on Mar 14, 2008 23:21:37 GMT 1
Er, the thing is, madmare, would stables and RDAs actually be willing to have those convicted of these crimes in their stables? And no charity would be allowed to have criminals convicted of this kind of crime in contact with vulnerable adults, or children.
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