Picture CaRT removed to placate anglers

THE picture of an otter on a Facebook page feasting on a pike in the Lancaster Canal drove anglers crazy last week with it getting 35,000 hits—many from anglers wanting the otter killed, so CaRT removed the picture—but here it is!

The picture, below, was taken by a fellow boater of an otter stealing (or attempting to steal) a plump pike, with Matt Edwards writing:

CaRT removed it

Several anglers posted extremely inappropriate messages calling for attacks on these animals and we were shocked and dismayed to see that Canal & River Trust (to whom we had sent the picture) had removed it rather rapidly and apologised for ‘upsetting' them rather than admonishing them for publishing such calls for criminal behaviour.

Now as boaters, we are all very in tune with the seasons and nature and slowly coming to accept the efforts to redefine for the purposes of long term survival of the waterways, under CaRT's policy maxim of Waterways for All. The appeal of this picture was informative, stimulating and not without a degree of humour which we thought would be constructive and of great publicity value.

Raises doubts

To treat it so dismissively and in such haste raises doubts that CaRT's own energies in driving forward attitudinal change and diversity has yet to reach some of its managerial staff.

No one from The Pike Angling Club GB as far as I am aware made official complaint, which is the moot point.

The response to the baser elements of an insignificant minority of anti-wildlife criminals was disproportionate and wholly misleading and has damaged CaRT's image in the minds of many.