Dear All 

It’s two weeks today since Finlay was taken. Despite asking numerous times, the Police still refuse to tell us where he is or how he is being cared for. We are so worried for his future and are absolutely heartbroken. We feel the Police have potentially been misled and have acted on a malicious report.  We can assure you that we have acted within the law at all times. Our team is of course very familiar with the legislation surrounding wildcats and so we would never breach that legislation. We work closely with environmental consultants and environmental lawyers at all times. As you have all seen, we have cared for Finlay with complete transparency and have very publicly provided great detail about our plans for release and we have provided pictures and videos every step of the way. Finlay’s rehabilitation has taken place in plain sight of nearly a million people on this petition alone. As you have seen and commented on, we have carried out best practice and have absolutely nothing to hide. Indeed we have offered to come into the police station and give information to the police on at least 3 occasions.  

For the avoidance of any doubt, here are the actual pieces of legislation below. It is there in black and white. No offence is committed under either piece of legislation, if the animal is rehabilitated and then released. Indeed, if our rehabilitation of Finlay was illegal, then no wildlife hospital in the UK could effectively operate without breaking the law. Please read the below legislation for yourselves. As a note, being orphaned, dependent on being bottle fed and then needing subsequent rehabilitation, would fall very squarely within the terms of disablement.  

'Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (Reg 44): 

 44.—(1) A person (“P”) is not guilty of the offence under regulation 43(1)(a) of deliberately capturing a wild animal of a European protected species, or an offence under regulation 43(3)(a) or (b), if P shows that the act in question— 

 (a)was in relation to an animal that had been disabled otherwise than by P’s unlawful act; and 

 (b)was done solely for one or both of the purposes of— 

 (i)tending it and releasing it when no longer disabled; or 

 (ii)releasing it after it had been tended. 

 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) (Section 10 (3))

Notwithstanding anything in section 9, a person shall not be guilty of an offence by reason of— 

(a)the taking of any such animal if he shows that the animal had been disabled otherwise than by his unlawful act and was taken solely for the purpose of tending it and releasing it when no longer disabled; 

(b)the killing of any such animal if he shows that the animal had been so seriously disabled otherwise than by his unlawful act that there was no reasonable chance of its recovering; or 

(c)any act made unlawful by that section if he shows that the act was the incidental result of a lawful operation and could not reasonably have been avoided.' 

We are in no doubt at all that we have acted within the law at all times and have absolutely no case to answer. The next question to ask is who made the malicious report and why? As you all know, Finlay was taken on the very day that our witness statements for the Public Inquiry over the Vattenfall windfarm were due. It seems an extraordinary coincidence.

We have tried hard not to inflame the situation for fear it might backfire on Finlay, but now we need maximum public exposure and support, to hopefully make the police see sense and return him safely. So many of you have asked us to set up a specific ‘Free Finlay’ petition. Well here it is. Please sign and share it as widely as possible and let us see if we can get it trending. We will post up some calls to action later in the week.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/en-gb/129/891/930/free-finlay/
 

Also, The Public Inquiry into Vattenfall's proposed windfarm started today and we will be giving our evidence this Wednesday. You will be able to dial in to watch and we will post the link out tomorrow. 
 
As you can see we are fighting hard on lots of fronts at the moment so thanks for your patience and for your continued support. 
 
Thanks as always
 
The Wildcat Haven Team and Finlay