NFA supporters will remember the wonderful work our friends at A Wild Life With Animals do for injured animals in the Forest of Dean area of England. Indeed, thanks to your generosity, NFA was able to provide them with a custom-made cage last year, to help with their rescue work.

Run entirely by volunteers, under the guidance of founder, Scott Passmore, these dedicated animal lovers aim to provide an animal rescue service for domestic and wild animals alike. The general public is able to get in touch with Scott and his colleagues when they find an animal in need of urgent care, day or night. Many animals, such as the ones above and below, are only alive today because of AWLWA.

NFA was therefore shocked to discover that AWLWA staff are being banned from rescuing animals on Forestry Commission (FC) land. The FC say that Scott Passmore and his colleagues may be in breach of in breach of The Forestry Commission Byelaws 1982 and the Welfare of Animals (Transport) order 1997 laws if they do so.

AWLWA report that The Forestry Commission only employ people to work Monday-Friday from 9-3pm. This means that any injured animals found on that land by concerned members of the public outside those hours and days, will not be dealt with until a member of staff goes on duty. The suffering animal would then most likely be shot by a FC employee.

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Petition DEFRA and ask them to amend these by-laws, so animals are not left to suffer

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Mr Passmore told NFA: “If a deer is found tangled in fencing on a Friday at 4pm, they say it has to wait till Monday at 9am. That’s not something we will be accepting, nor other rescues thankfully who are also shocked the Forestry Commission has this approach.”

Please lend your support to AWLWA, and other rescue organisations today by signing this petition to DEFRA.