[Fergie]

Hello,

as a resident of North Lanarkshire, I've emailed my local councillor (who I know quite well) urging him to take a part at the meeting on Tuesday, pointing out that it would be a great shame if these are lost to the general public of Scotland.

If the decision to dispose of the rare breed animals is decided, then I've asked him to make sure that RBST is involved along with Scottish enthusiasts, to try and keep them in the country.  In particular, I told him it would be a disaster if any were auctioned for meat!

John

[Fergie]

Just received this reply:

<<Hello John,

Thanks for your email.
I fully understand where you are coming from and yes the meeting is now on Tuesday.
I will make enquiries tomorrow.
Thanks!

Robert.>>

[HappyHippy]

On-line petition is now set up and running, please can everybody (regardless of where you live) sign up and add a bit of weight to the arguement
http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/savepalacerigg
Thanks folks
Karen x

[Moregin]

Its a sad day for all if it happens . I lived in the park with my parents for a few years as my father was a park ranger when the park was founded by David Stephen. I have great memories of doing the feeding rounds as a kid with my father or the other rangers and once or twice Mrs Stephen allowing me to be in the enclosure while she fed the wolves.

[Fleecewife]

Wolves  didn't know they had wolves 

Thank you everyone for all this hard work and support 

I have now heard from Peter Titley who is President of the RBST.  He helped run the campaign to save Doonie's farm in Aberdeen so is familiar with the ins and outs of this kind of campaign.  He has said he will do his best to be at the council meeting on the 14th, to represent the RBST - great news !!

If anyone else can also be at that meeting to offer support that will be wonderful.

There might also be something in the Daily Record, if not tomorrow then soon.

[Brucklay]

Too far for me - but thoughts with you - Wolves - Camperdown in Dundee used to have Wolves when I helped out there - they were fantastic - loved the feeding round - I was a bit mad, no fear, wanted in with everything!!

[doganjo]

the animals will almost certainly have to go to public auction as this is council policy

Well it's about time Council Policy was changed - who pays these Councillors anyway?  You and Me - so WE say what policy is - NOT them!

[robert waddell]

do they still have wolves             nothing compared to the wolves round the ring at lanark           they also used to have stringlug the fox or it was a local that david stephen used to write about

[HappyHippy]

There might also be something in the Daily Record, if not tomorrow then soon.

And the Daily Mail too (if I've got anything to do with it  )

the animals will almost certainly have to go to public auction as this is council policy

Well it's about time Council Policy was changed - who pays these Councillors anyway?  You and Me - so WE say what policy is - NOT them!

You're right Annie, these 'elected individuals' are supposed to represent OUR wishes - they've never really done a very good job of that though 

[Fleecewife]

It is very important that if the farm stock has to be sold through auction these animals go to breeding farms, not to the butcher, or even down to England if we can possibly help it - there are few enough of our rare breeds here in Scotland as it is.  RBST has said they will suggest to Palacerigg that they put a reserve on all animals to prevent them going to the butchers - who will be there. This is what they did with the sale of the Shetland cattle from Knocknagael and all went to breeding homes (although they might be too old to breed...).
My OH will also speak with the auctioneer and we will buy anything which is not bought by a breeder.  We can redistribute afterwards.
The galling thing is that if they fetch high prices, the council will be benefitting from our desire to save the animals they are dumping - so we need a strategy.  But we can decide on that if the day comes.

[robert waddell]

will endever to find out what lines they have with  pigs but from memory i think they are not the rarest of lines

[Fleecewife]

Doganjo wrote : I can't help with animals but could help raise funds - used to be part of my job.

Thank you Anne - it may well come to that, if we need to persuade the Council that they can manage to continue with sponsorships.  Immediate thoughts as sponsors are Grangemouth, Scottish Power, and whoever is putting up all these windfarms.  I'm sure there are lots of other big businesses which want to show how green and community friendly they are which would help.

[palacerigg]

The pig blood lines are clunes jasper and moonshine lucky lass 4 and 6

[Rosemary]

the animals will almost certainly have to go to public auction as this is council policy

Well it's about time Council Policy was changed - who pays these Councillors anyway?  You and Me - so WE say what policy is - NOT them!

Bit off topic, but it's unfair to the Council to criticise them for securing the best price for assets that they are selling. One, it's the law except in very particular circumstances. Second, it's a bit hypocritical - if they sold something we weren't interested in for less than the market value, then they'd get it in the neck for that too.

Always easy to have a dig at the Cooncil!

[HappyHippy]

I've started emailing ALL the primary schools in North Lanarkshire, asking them to pass on the details of the petition to their staff, pupils and parents. But there's a HUGE list of them (and that's without secondaries !)
If anyone wants to start at the bottom of the list and work back doing the same thing we can meet in the middle 
Here's the link
http://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=13165
Thanks x

Edit: Hubby's kicking me off the PC - I've done up to and including all the schools starting with M.
Karen x