Anti-racist dog-free zone claims debunked
Emily Price
The Welsh Government has denied claims that it has been advised to introduce dog free zones to help make Wales’ countryside “anti-racist”
This week, several media outlets reported that action group Climate Cymru BAME had recommended canine free green spaces as part of the government’s Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan.
The claims have been amplified by the leader of the Senedd Conservatives Andrew RT Davies who shared news articles on his social media channels and appeared as a guest to talk about the issue on GB News.
‘Cherrypicked’
Climate Cymru BAME says one line had been “cherrypicked” from a government report “out of context, misrepresented and used as clickbait to drive engagement.”
The Welsh Government says the suggestion there are plans to ban dogs from the countryside is “inaccurate and a complete misrepresentation” of the report.
Ethnic minority groups were invited to contribute to the action plan which sets out a vision for Wales to be an anti-racist county.
A member of a small community group which took part in conversations with Climate Cymru BAME suggested the creation of “urban farming (allotments) and dog-free areas” such as children’s playgrounds.
The climate action group says this suggestion was not a central part of the conversation or the group’s feedback – it was “just one comment of many from this community conversation submission and is not Welsh Government policy.”
‘Factually incorrect’
In a statement, Climate Cymru BAME said: “The original Daily Mail article, seemingly based on this single line, claimed that dogs have been banned from the Welsh Countryside, which is factually incorrect.
“The headline has now been changed but remains misleading; no one has suggested dogs, or their owners, are racist or that they should be banned from urban green spaces and especially not from the countryside which wasn’t even mentioned in the conversations.
“We would prefer the media and politicians focus on the real issues that UK communities face. Racism remains an issue that causes division and suffering for many in our communities and ultimately it is right that governments and others try and address this.”
The “factually incorrect” claims have been shared online by Andrew RT Davies who told journalists the Welsh Government was pursuing “woke” and “trivial” policies instead of focusing their energy on the NHS and education standards.
The most senior Tory in Wales says Climate Cymru BAME contacted him on Thursday (November 14) asking him to remove his social media posts and requesting he makes no further comment.
‘Madness’
Sharing a further article to X, with the headline “Woke madness as govt-funded study says dogs should be banned from countryside over risk of offending minorities”, Mr Davies said: “To be clear, I make no apologies for apposing Labour’s divisive “Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan. The report should not have been commissioned.”
Mr Davies was formally reprimanded in the Senedd last week for incorrect claims he made online about Wales’ 20mph speed limit.
Labour backbencher Alun Davies says the Welsh Conservative leader should be “ashamed” of himself.
He said: “This is exactly the deliberate misrepresentation that drags our politics into the gutter. Andrew RT Davies has a track record of using race and religion to create social divisions. It to the Welsh Conservatives shame that they allow him to do it.
“After being censured by the Senedd last week Andrew is now clearly targeting some of our communities in Wales to fan the flames of racism. He should be ashamed.”
Clarity
It is understood that several media outlets have been contacted and asked to update their stories to clarify that the Welsh Government has no plans to “ban racist dogs” as several articles have suggested.
A story by the Daily Mail which claimed dogs in Wales are already banned from the countryside has since been updated.
In a statement, the Welsh Government said: “There are no plans to ban dogs from the countryside and any suggestion otherwise is inaccurate and a complete misrepresentation of this report which sought to understand what information was already available on the relationship between ethnic minority people and environmental matters and where there were evidence gaps.
“It gathered information directly from ethnic minority people in Wales. Comments highlighted by the media are feedback from people asked their views and not Welsh Government proposals.
“The Welsh Government is committed to creating an anti-racist nation by 2030. Our Anti-racist Wales Action Plan is built on the values of anti-racism and calls for zero tolerance of all racial inequality.”
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The Conservatives in the Senedd are supposed to be our country’s official opposition to the Government, instead they’re constantly in the news for this type of dangerous nonsense and misinformation.
It’s clearly too much to ask for them to provide any sort of constructive political opposition or alternatives when they’re led by a professional social media troll.
What a joke.
Unwaith yn gelwyddgi, wastad yn gelwyddgi.
Earning his size 43 clown shoes quite often now. Halal, tommy 10 names likes, blanket bans and now this (though many others qualify). What will he do next we wonder. What jolly japes will the Welsh Wonder do next. What clown show will we see from the Welsh Cons next. Certainly no opposition to Labour.
And he wonders why gbeebies is not on the selection on the senedd systems.
More dog whistling, pardon the pun, from Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies. Off he goes at 20 mph like a well-rounded puppy with a bone in his slobbering chops to GB News to push his Trumpian “Fake News” to the right-wing knuckle draggers who watch this open sewer spew out detritus like a Conservative crop sprayer. Lies upon more lies, he has no clue or shame. It’s either whipping up Islamophobia and how Muslims are tunneling under Britain deliberately making it sink, or bemoaning how aircraft in Cardiff International Airport are now being forced by the Senedd to reduce… Read more »
The question still remains as to why oddball pressure groups like Climate Cymru BAME has such input into Welsh Government consultations, even though in this instance ministers have been forced to deny this proposal to be a step too far and not government policy. Perhaps they are too fixated on the affluent urban of Cathays rather than addressing the needs of the rest of Wales.
Is Cathays ‘affluent’ now? In my days in Cardiff if was anything but. However that was long ago, so maybe things have changed?
I took this as an attempt to appease Muslims, for whom dogs are Haram and unclean, so they would not be offended by meeting a dog. Usually by the same people who ban the word Christmas on behalf of Muslims as they say it might offend Muslims. Something the Muslims never asked for, especially as my local corner shop run by Muslims has sold Christmas decorations and packs of bacon.
You took it where you like to go.
Which is more than the National Trust not selling cards with Christmas/ Xmas on!!!!
Just where did this absolute myth about anyone seeking to ban the word ‘Christmas’ come from?
Daily wail, torygraph, gbeebies, reform……
Nice selection of xmas cards on the NT site, very xmasy but my main gripe is the snow, not seen any of that around xmas for years….
I agree. The last real Christmas snow that I recall was circa 1968 when my then native bit of south Manchester had an unusual quite heavy snowfall on Christmas Eve.
Same place as where we got the “Black one legged lesbian” trope from, Murdoch’s rag.
Agree entirely. Press-wise, we’re currently in a bad place.
In our area the only folk who might be advocating banning dogs from the countryside are sheep farmers!
Fel arfer, does neb yn siarad dros y cathod
We had a real spate of sheep-worrying incidents around here during the lockdowns, though they seem have somewhat abated more recently.
As for cats, not that many of them around where we live – although we’ve recently acquired one unintentionally, Its owner having died.
Wait until some dim spark claims they’ll also want to ban sheepdogs!
Mae’n bosibl – pwy sy’n gwybod?!
Yes, Andrew RT Davies never seems to have any positive vision for Wales, that’s very true. But serious questions need to be asked why such lobby groups as Climate Cymru BAME get such favoured status from Welsh Labour and such largesse from the public purse. Welsh public also need to ask, who is actually pushing this ‘anti-racist Wales’ racket? We used to aim for a ‘Non-racist Wales’ which was a much more reasoned and less emotive approach. As ever, follow the money here!
You could say the same about that ” Charity” Sustrans!
Dog-whistle Davies: A man who believes what he reads in the Daily Mail and still posts on X.
A bitter, twisted political wanna-be with no discernable talent and nothing to offer Wales except spite and division.
I almost welcome his up-comming replacement by who-ever Reform put up against him
No surprise that an article which includes the names of a particular individual, a publication of ill repute and an unhinged broadcast outlet, also contains the term ‘factually incorrect’. Nothing marks out a racist better than the use of the word ‘Woke’ as a pejorative and racism is anything but ‘trivial’ to a person who harbours it at the core of their being. A further and stronger reprimand must be issued now for a disinformation repeat offender and pressure must be applied to demand a resignation. This is bringing our whole nation into disrepute. It must be stopped.
Why on earth are the Welsh Tories content to allow themselves to be led by such a total muppet as ART Davies? OK, he was pretty much on the ball about Vaughan Gething, but then even a stopped clock is right a couple of times in twenty-four hours. It isn’t as if there haven’t in recent years been some decent and sensible Welsh Tories in the Senedd. David Melding, for instance, who was apparently genuinely praised on all sides of the Senedd when he opted to stand down in 2021. And there’s Russell George in Sir Drefaldwyn who seems a… Read more »
A little unfair to Muppets who, by contrast, were universally loved.
You’d think he’d have better things to pontificate about, such as the inheritance tax that farmers are currently whinging about.