The Times - UK (2022-01-03)

the times | Monday January 3 2022 11

News

For some dog owners, only the best will
do when it comes to their beloved
companion. According to the Kennel
Club, however, most pets are just as
happy with cheap and cheerful treats.
Brands such as Canine Caviar offer
owners a range of more exclusive foods,
including Buffalo Bully Sticks, which
cost between £40 to £60 online, while

Forget the caviar, dogs are just as happy with the cheapest treats

Cameron Charters

Can a cow be protected in the courts
from being turned into a burger? Does
a fish have the right not to be caught
and killed? Should it be illegal to keep
animals in zoos?
Academics in Cambridge have
opened Europe’s first centre for the
study of animal rights law to examine
such questions in the wake of the push
for animals to be treated as “non-
human persons”.
The Cambridge Centre for Animal
Rights Law (CCARL) has ambitions to
become the go-to resource for lawmak-
ers drafting new legislation involving
animals.
The educational charity is providing

Animals? Call them ‘non-human persons’

a course on animal rights law to stu-

dents at the University of Cambridge,

with a programme covering the ethics

surrounding zoos and the moral quan-

daries of keeping pets, farming, animal

testing and slaughtering for meat.

Dr Sean Butler, Fellow of St Ed-

mund’s College, Cambridge, and the

director of CCARL, told The Sunday

Telegraph: “As people I think we have a

higher regard for humans than for

animals, so correspondingly a higher

regard for human rights.

“However, the more we understand

animals — their sentience, capabilities,

emotions — the more that the idea of

granting rights to animals is worth

taking seriously. Whether rights are

actually granted will be a matter for

governments and civil society. As an

academic institute the centre’s role is to

research, reflect, and publish, so that if

— or when — there is a demand for

animals to be granted rights, the legal

groundwork will have been done.”

Animal welfare laws have existed

since the 19th century but there are no

laws supporting animal rights.

The creation of such laws could

mean that animals are granted legal

protections of their basic interests, such

as being alive, not being harmed and

being free where possible.

Dr Raffael Fasel of the London

School of Economics and Oxford

Centre for Animal Ethics said there was

“widespread agreement” among

animal rights academics that because

of the shared sentience of humans and

many non-human animals “they

should in principle all have certain

basic rights”.

The legal rights of animals have been

tested in the courts in recent years by

David Slater, a British photographer

who fought for the royalties of a picture

that was taken when the shutter on his

camera was activated by a seven-year-

old macaque in Indonesia in 2011.

People for the Ethical Treatment of

Animals (Peta) had argued that Naruto,

the monkey, was the legal owner of all

photos he took but a federal judge in

San Francisco ruled in 2016 that copy-

right law did not apply to animals.

Appeal court judges in 2018 ruled

that Naruto “lacked statutory standing

because the copyright act does not

expressly authorise animals to file

copyright infringement suits”.

In the UK ,the sale of live lobsters and

crabs to the public has been called

into question after a government-

commissioned review concluded that

the animals were sentient. The govern-

ment is preparing to recognise in law

that they can feel pain by amending the

Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill to in-

clude them.

Ministers commissioned the inde-

pendent review last year but it has since

come under fire from Conservative

donors and countryside groups, who

say it could be hijacked by animal rights

activists to block infrastructure pro-

jects and ban country sports.

Will Humphries

Ocado sells training treats from The

Innocent Hound, such as lamb with

yellow split pea, at £30 for 60 grams.

Woofs’ cod finger treats cost £4.85 per

100g.

Bill Lambert, a spokesman for the

Kennel Club, said that dogs weren’t so

fussy.

“Dogs do like treats but the treats are

largely designed for the people who buy

them,” he told The Times. “To dogs it

doesn’t matter if they are expensive or

cheap, they will still like them. We

should remember that what appeals to

us as people, such as packaging, will on-

ly be of slight interest to the dog.”

The market researcher Mintel

suggested that dog owners, craving

treats for themselves during the pan-

demic, have extended this to their pets,

which have been pampered more than

usual. Lambert added: “The pandemic

has actually been quite good for dogs.

We know dog ownership has gone up,

and owners have been spending more

time with their pets.”

According to a Mintel study, 72 per

cent of pet dog and cat owners give their

pets premium food as a treat. And only

half would pay less for animal food to

save money in difficult times.

“The time spent at home has also

created more opportunities for owners

to treat their pets, while people turning

to comfort foods in stressful times dur-

ing the pandemic appear to have also

looked to pamper their four-legged

family members,” the study reported.

There are 34 million pets in the UK,

the Pet Food Manufacturers’ Associa-

tion said. This includes 12 million cats

and 12 million dogs, 3.2 million small

mammals such as guinea pigs and ham-

sters, and 3 million birds.

ALAMY

Netflix

is lifeline

for stately

homes

G

iven to Sir

William

Herbert in

1544 by

Henry VIII

and steadily remodelled

since, Wilton House has

an illustrious history

(Jake Kanter writes).

Recently, however, the

estate has undergone an

entirely different type of

transformation, standing

in as the Queen’s home

in a TV drama.

Owned by the Earl of

Pembroke, Wilton

House has been a

substitute for

Buckingham Palace

in all four series of

The Crown, while

season five of the

Netflix drama has

also filmed scenes

there. Wilton is used

for the Queen’s study

and living room.

The stately home

west of Salisbury is

one of many to have

benefited from

Britain’s booming

film and TV industry.

Producers have

flocked to UK shores

to unlock tax breaks, tap

into a skilled production

workforce and point

cameras at the country’s

historical landmarks.

The filming gold rush,

worth £3.6 billion in the

first half of 2021, has

been a lifeline for

country estates during

the pandemic, helping

keep the lights on when

tourists were shut out.

“They’re very pleased

to see us,” said Gareth

Skelding, a location

manager who has

worked on Sherlock and

Doctor Who.

Tony Hood, a location

manager on Netflix’s

Bridgerton, which has

also been filmed at

Wilton, explained why

demand is high:

“Americans don’t have

that architecture, they

don’t have that history.

So they come here to

make shows.”

William Herbert, the

18th Earl of Pembroke,

added: “It’s been quite

astonishing actually.

Prior to the big

productions by Netflix

and others, we would

tend to get a large

Hollywood movie

once every five years.

Since The Crown,

we’ve seen

momentum [every

year].”

Hood said that a day

of filming with a crew of

more than 150 people

can cost up to £15,000 a

day at an estate like

Wilton. Royal palaces,

such as Hampton Court,

can charge up to

£60,000 a day if they

need to keep members

of the public out.

Other hotspots

include Hertfordshire’s

Hatfield House, home to

shows such as The

Great, and Syon Park, by

Kew Gardens, which has

provided backdrops for

Downton Abbey and

Killing Eve. A Very

British Scandal, the

BBC’s big Christmas

drama, was filmed at

Inveraray Castle in

Scotland and

Buckinghamshire’s West

Wycombe Park among

other locations.

Herbert was reluctant

to disclose Wilton’s fee

for a day’s filming but

acknowledged that it

can run to tens of

thousands of pounds.

The revenue has helped

fund vital renovation

work at the Palladian

mansion, which is

crammed with van

Dycks and Rembrandts

and is situated on a

14,000-acre estate. “The

calibre of work means

that you need fairly

large sums of money to

just replace the

curtains,” Herbert said.

Entertaining a film

crew is not without

drawbacks. Herbert said

trust must be

established with

producers, who often

need to move priceless

pieces of furniture and

artwork around to

accommodate certain

shots. He said: “It’s the

biggest risk for a stately

home when you’ve got

150 to 200 cast and crew

in with huge lighting

rigs, cranes, electrical

equipment, cabling, and

generator lorries. It’s a

lot of people and

machinery, so there is a

risk, but the rewards

tend to outstrip that.”

There is also an

impact on family life.

“Trying to get the kids

to tiptoe around the

house and not shout and

scream while they’re

filming a scene in the

room above — it’s not

very easy to live here

while the filming is

going on,” Herbert said.

It does, however,

produce memorable

moments, not least

Olivia Colman getting

carried away during a

break in filming on The

Crown. “She got a bit

overexcited in the

adventure playground

while dressed as the

Queen, much to the

shock of the costume

department,” Herbert

recalled.

Demand is so high

that location experts are

having to scout further

away from London

because properties in

and around the capital

are booked up. Castle

Howard in Yorkshire is

among the beneficiaries

of this, hosting shows

including Bridgerton

and Victoria.

Private estates such as

Wilton House are in high

demand for period dramas.

Bridgerton, left, is one of

the shows filmed there

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