Political Animal Lobby
In 1990, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), set up a wholly owned subsidiary, the Political Animal Lobby (PAL) through which it donated to political parties. In 1991, it gave £50,000 to the Labour Party, with smaller donations to the Conservatives (£33,304) and the Liberal Democrats (£20,000). These donations were made discreetly and went unnoticed at first.
A front page story in the Observer on 1st September 1997 provided a grim warning. IFAW had donated £1 million to the Labour Party. There was no official announcement; the the Observer journalist had learnt of the donation while investigating party funding in a general nature. IFAW insisted the Political Animal Lobby had donated the money, but it was later revealed that PAL had needed a £600,000 'loan' from IFAW. (from [1] - a pro-hunting site)
Records published yesterday showed that Labour accepted two donations from the Political Animal Lobby, a secretive animal welfare organisation which was formerly linked to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
The Political Animal Lobby, (PAL) is headed by the veteran animal welfare activist Brian Davies, who is now based in the United States. Mr Davies founded IFAW - which is now an entirely separate organisation - and successfully campaigned to draw to the public's attention the plight of seal pups clubbed to death in culls in North America. In Britain, PAL is run by Angela Beveridge, sister of the Labour MP Tony Banks, an outspoken critic of hunting. (from [2] another hunting site)
Search engines do not give results as to the web site of PAL or Political Animal Lobby. However, a web site is in place by PAL for the dog trade in the Philippines. The site's URL www.networkforanimals.org sweepingly describes almost the entire northern Luzon as dog traders and dog eaters. As to how the group came up with their data is not explained. The website also describes the Philippine government as not doing anything about the problem. But Mel Alipio, representative of PAL in the Philippines, in a separate interview, seems not to be aware of the contents of their website. from [3])
In 1997, our Chief Executive Officer, Mr Brian Davies, decided to leave IFAW to set up an alternative animal welfare organisation called the Political Animal Lobby (PAL). As a consequence Mr Fred O'Regan became the IFAW Chief Executive Officer.
In 1997 PAL made a donation of £1 million to the Labour Party, as well as to other political parties, and unfortunately this was reported in the Press as being a donation from IFAW. (from [4])
Contact details
28 Broadway
176-177 London
SW1H 9JX United Kingdom
Phone: 020 7233 2678
Fax: 020 7233 2563
Web: http://www.networkforanimals.org/
(from [5])
Lobbies to raise the profile of animal issues, and for an Animal Welfare Ministry or Commission.
Not a registered charity.
