Isabella and Lola Koupparis after the fox attack: photo by BBC/Leopard Films
Last month, nine month old twins Lola and Isabella Koupparis were viciously bitten in their bedroom by a fox, in Hackney, East London. They were rushed to the Royal London Hospital and had surgical operations. It was nice to see them back at home on the BBC1 documentary, The Fox Attack Twins.
A few years ago, I knew a family that found a fox in their North London garden and called the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). The charity made it clear that it was not responsible for removing foxes from gardens and it meant that they had to live with the fox which they caught on camera several times. In fact, they were scared to use the beautiful garden for barbecue parties.
Should we really blame Local Councils and the RSPCA for their inability to help us to get rid of foxes? Mr Koupparis told the BBC that the council was not eager to deal with problems of foxes because foxes are legally protected. Foxes are protected under different legislation but the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson “said the animals were a menace and councils should take urgent steps to tackle the estimated 10,000 foxes roaming the capital".
According to Schedule 1 ‘Exempt Hunting’ of the Hunting Act 2004; Recapture of wild animal section 7 (3) (a):
The second condition is that—
reasonable steps are taken for the purpose of ensuring that as soon as possible after being found the wild mammal is recaptured or shot dead by a competent person, and
Six foxes were ‘trapped’ in the garden of the East London home and killed. A fox was reportedly captured by pest controllers and destroyed by a vet. The meaning of ‘competent person’ does not refer to every person. The power to arrest suspects under section 7 was repealed in 2006 by the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005.
Schedule 1 (flushing and stalking – section 1) of the Hunting Act 2004 should have included foxes found in public and private gardens but the Secretary of State is empowered to amend schedule 1. Fox attack on human beings is supposed to be rare but other people like a three year old boy and Natasha David, 33, were also bitten by a fox.
The Hunting Act 2004 and Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 made fox hunting illegal in England, Wales and Scotland but not in Northern Ireland. It is sad that the foxes that are protected from human abuse are attacking human beings.
Washington DC rapper, Olubowale Victor Folarin aka Wale’s remix of Bunny Mack's 'Let me love you'
150 Bullies: 2011 Presidency and Northern Fallacy
Late last year, a Gambian Soldier (retd) told me that Kwame Nkurumah 'warned' Nnamdi Azikiwe and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa against federalism but they did not take his advice. Nigeria became a federal republic in 1963 but he expected Nigerians to have kicked against the ‘federation’ a long time ago; the way Senegal pulled out of the Senegambia Confederation on 30 September 1989 after seven years of unity with Gambia.
Of course I did not take him ‘seriously’ but he felt that Nigerians should know the truth. He is a 'Pan–Africanist' and Nkurumah ‘devotee’. I excused myself from the ‘political discourse’ because I had an appointment. He pleaded anonymity and I kept ‘mute’ until 150 bullies aka 150 Northern leaders infuriated the ‘airspace’ by clamouring for a Northern President and rotational presidency in 2011.
The 150 disreputable elements should first of all show the world which section of the Nigerian constitution says that the presidency must be rotated like a crystal ball. Even psychics don’t meddle in political matters ‘unless’ they are consulted in ‘secrecy’. Which powers do the 150 bullies have to impose such a heavy burden of backwardness on non Northerners? Rotational presidency is political slavery in a country of about 250 ethnic groups.
I am not trying to say that the retired soldier was right or wrong since he has a right to his opinion… Some Nigerians prefer to remain the ‘human cargoes’ of the North than find a lasting solution to the imposition of Northern oligarchy in the political landscape. If we do not want disintegration or the prediction of the CIA to come to pass by 2015 then we should abandon dictatorship in democracy.
Zoning is a fallacy and fragment of some Northerners to keep Southerners as the underdogs. It is explicit that some politicians pretend not to know the difference between military and democratic governance. Otherwise the senseless issue of zoning would be unimportant.
150 Northern Leaders Insist On 2011 Presidency
