Backing for animal charter considered (From Keighley News)

Backing for animal charter considered

3:50pm Thursday 14th May 2009 in Keighley By Lisa Campbell

The town council should “commit” to animal welfare, a councillor has said.

National campaign group Animal Aid has contacted every town and city council across the country asking them to adopt an eight-point “Compassionate Charter”.

The charter — which includes suggestions like only buying cruelty-free cleaning products and toiletries, banning circuses with live animals from council land and promoting and subsidising neutering — has been circulated to all Keighley town councillors for consideration at the next meeting.

But Councillor Siobhan Alderson has already stated her support for the document.

She said: “There is no reason why we cannot bring in a process of buying biodegradable products, to our council.

“Neutering is something we can promote in the community.

“We are living in a town where a few days ago some lambs were shot. We are living in a town where a few weeks ago, a dog was hanged. We should commit ourselves to looking after animal welfare and there is nothing extreme in here if we are acting on this charter.”

But Cllr Allan Rhodes said: “As far as I feel, we are getting more emotional than we should.

“There are a lot more worthwhile things out there that members might feel we should be supporting.”

Cllr Gerald Newton said that a company address was printed on the back page of the document.

He said: “All right they are going to do something but they are going to make money out of it.”

But Cllr Kathrine Roberts said she had been a member of the BUAV for 15 years and knew it was not a “money-making thing”.

She said: “We collect money to pay for different things all around the world. I have just sent a cheque for £500 to save monkeys in Indonesia.”

Cllr Brian Hudson said he thought the council should leave legislation regarding animals to the Government and “not bring it on ourselves”.

Cllr David Samuels said: “I think we should look to ourselves and start humanising ourselves before we start looking to animals. “We are the most cruel beings ever.”

Animal Aid’s Compassionate Charter will be discussed in more detail at a future meeting.

l Lists of who should represent the council on various external bodies were confirmed at the meeting.

Keighley town mayor Cllr Amjad Zaman said councillors should use their voices and represent their electorate by signing up to at least one committee.

He said: “Everybody has a voice, if you choose to not put your name forward then you choose to not use your voice so I urge every member here to be on a committee.”

He added that if the council wasn’t represented on external committees then this burdened the council clerks with more paperwork and was a waste of public money.

l The deputy mayor, Cllr Margaret Ward, reported that an opinion-gathering exercise in the town council’s Airedale Centre shop went ahead successfully.

Volunteers and town councillors asked shoppers for their opinions about Keighley Town Council, its work and the town in general.

She said: “We met a lot of people and spoke to a lot of people and a lot of people had good things to say about Keighley.

“We also met a lot of people from Burnley, Shipley, Silsden and other places who had all come to Keighley to shop, which I felt was quite heartening.” The results will be discussed at a future meeting.

l The annual meeting of Keighley Town Council will be held tonight when the new mayor and deputy mayor will be officially appointed.

Cllr Zaman said of his year in office as Keighley town mayor: “From the bottom of my heart I would like to say thank you very much.

“I wish the next mayor and deputy mayor all the very best.”