Music
Queen guitarist joins protest to ban golfer who clubbed a fox for stealing his chocolate cookie
by Ciaran Thompson
July 19, 2011
Queen guitarist Brian May is an animal rights activist and proving it by joining a protest that was launched this past weekend in an attempt to ban golfer Donald Forbes from a Scottish golf club after he clubbed a tame fox, which later had to be euthanized.
May and other activists gathered outside Peterculter Golf Club near Aberdeen and urged for a life-time ban to be imposed on Forbes, an oil boss no less, who was fined at Aberdeen Sheriff Court back in May for his attack on the fox after it apparently stole his chocolate cookie (!). After a suspension, Forbes was reinstated by the golf club.
“It’s evident that the vast majority of the British public are disgusted by cruelty to animals, as shown by the public outcry against this particularly senseless piece of brutality,” May said. “The members of this Aberdeen club have the opportunity to show their disapproval in an appropriate way – by banning this unsavoury character for life. But they seem to be unready.”
The golf club’s lawyer says the decision was made to allow Forbes to come back after “considering all the relevant factors of this unfortunate case. The committee took account of his previous unblemished record over many years of membership. This decision in no way condones Mr Forbes’s actions.”
But Fox Watch’s Paul McDonald, who represents the organization leading the protest, claims by letting Forbes back in, “it seems as though the club is saying ‘it’s OK.’ We are asking people to boycott the club or to contact them to complain.” [Scotsman]
