Prison Officers Association (POA)<\/a>, called for a reversal of the policy, claiming that the incident happened because private contractors are failing to keep prisons vermin-free.<\/p>\n\u201cThis is an unacceptable working practice and should be abolished immediately. This once again proves that the unfit for purpose outsourced maintenance contract needs to be abandoned and brought back in house,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Animal assisted therapy was introduced more than a decade ago at Wetherby, a former borstal which has served \u201cas a national resource for the most vulnerable children in prison\u201d.<\/p>\n
The young offender institution, built around decaying 1950s brick buildings, 1990s blocs and repurposed naval huts, can hold up to 288 boys aged 15 to 18, but at present holds about 100.<\/p>\n
Ferrets are kept as part of a therapeutic programme for traumatised children, Prison Service sources said.<\/p>\n
Wetherby young offender institution. Photograph: Dave Higgens\/PA<\/p>\n
But in mid-May, staff and children complained about dozens of rats running around the grounds and inside prison buildings. A team of officers and children who are allowed to take on maintenance duties, called \u2018Q Branch\u2019, were given permission to use ferrets to kill the rats.<\/p>\n
According to a POA complaint sent to Mark Scott, the institute\u2019s governor, \u201ca rat was cornered and killed within a staff office using domesticated ferrets. This raises significant concerns in relation to animal welfare, health and safety, infection control, and professional conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is particularly concerning that a young individual responsible for the ferrets was present and witnessed the incident. Exposure to such an event is inappropriate and potentially distressing, and warrants review.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rather than destroy caught rats by approved pest control methods, a manager advised \u201cstomping on them or throwing them against walls\u201d, the union\u2019s complaint said.<\/p>\n
According to a separate complaint sent to the Health and Safety Executive, the ferret \u201cwas running freely and chased the rat eventually biting it and holding it still\u201d until a senior staff member \u201cstomped on the rat until it died\u201d. Several staff also witnessed the incident, it was claimed.<\/p>\n
Permission to use ferrets to hunt rats was given by a named member of the senior management team, the HSE complaint said.<\/p>\n
The incident will not only traumatise child inmates and prison officers but is a \u201ccontamination risk\u201d and raises concerns under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, the union said.<\/p>\n
While ferrets are often associated with hunting rabbits, some psychologists have said they are playful and responsive animals that can help traumatised teenagers.<\/p>\n
The National Ferret Welfare Society said ferreting should always be carried out in \u201ca controlled manner by experienced adults\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we cannot comment on the specific situation without further information, we cannot condone the stamping to death of any animal in any situation,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Rat infestations at prisons across England and Wales<\/a> are increasingly common. A recent inspection at HMP Manchester, formerly Strangeways, found wings smelling strongly of rat urine, exacerbated by exercise yards covered in litter thrown out of cell windows. At HMP Rochester, prisoners were forced to block gaps under their cell doors with cardboard in an attempt to keep rats out.<\/p>\nIn February, a report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons into Wetherby found high levels of violence and self-harm.<\/p>\n
Prison Service sources blamed the influx of rats at Wetherby on building work disturbing a rats\u2019 nest. A Youth Custody Service spokesperson said: \u201cThis was an isolated incident relating to maintenance works. HMYOI Wetherby has since strengthened its pest control procedures to keep vermin out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pet ferrets kept as therapy animals at the UK\u2019s largest children\u2019s prison have been co-opted by managers to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-651404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}