DID YOU know that selling your frogspawn on eBay can land you in trouble with the law? Don’t say you weren’t warned. This is one of the more bizarre cases that Paul Henery, Northumbria Police’s wildlife officer, has had to deal with, according to Police (Feb). That and someone trying to flog a whale’s tooth. Most of Henery’s job, however, involves chasing criminals who shoot birds of prey and steal rare eggs. Although his investigations don’ t always result in prosecution, they often lead to something bigger. “These people take pleasure in inflicting cruelty,” he says. “These people are serial killers, they may be wife-beaters . . . prepared to use violence in their daily lives and they have a lack of respect for animal and human life.”
To Children Now (Feb 8) for a more innocent outdoor pursuit. GreenStart is a Countryside Agency (CA) programme to encourage children and their parents to make the most of the outdoors. Come rain or shine, hardy folk don wellies and tramp into forests all over the North East. “It has taught us that there’s plenty to do outside that doesn’t cost money,” one parent says. And it’s educational too. “The idea,” claims the CA, “is to make the most of the local environment as a resource for playing and learning.”
The great outdoors is also the focus of a feature in Planning (Feb 10). You wouldn’t build a house just anywhere — planning laws wouldn’t let you — and yet the equivalent is happening at sea. There is no overall planning of marine projects, which, when you consider the multiple demands of energy generation, fishing, shipping, recreation and pipelines, all wrapped up in conservation and sustainability, seems a bit silly. Now the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has commissioned a pilot marine spatial plan, in which the Irish Sea is divided into planning areas. The pilot should influence the Government’s Marine Bill, due this year.
From the great outdoors to something that happens very often behind closed doors — and possibly involves some of our wildlife criminals mentioned earlier. Nursing Times (Feb 7) interviewed Christine Mann, who advises the Department of Health on strategies to deal with domestic abuse. She was the UK’s first nurse consultant in domestic violence and tells of her experiences as a young health visitor in deprived areas of Glasgow: “I saw domestic violence time and time again. I was beginning to realise that the people who were causing me problems in the community were the people I was seeing in court.” Her early experiences convinced her that nurses can play a vital role in tackling the issue by working alongside the police.
New ways of thinking are also in evidence at the Samaritans, the emotional support charity, Third Sector (Feb 8) says. In a fine example of governance overhaul, the charity has reduced its number of trustees from 225 to 15 and set up an advisory Council of Samaritans, who will take decisions on behalf of 15,500 volunteers. The idea is that this will place them in an ideal position to push their new angle: being “more outward-looking and proactive”. David King, the chief executive, admits the organisation’s image is traditionally associated with suicide and the telephone — which are reactive. “But this is just the tip of the iceberg,” he says.