I find that this story highlights why the act needs to be ammended: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7900963/First-catch-your-squirrel….html
Grey squirrels are classed as vermin and are ravaging our native woodlands. They need to be controlled. One squirrel gnawing the bark off a decades-old tree in a few minutes can kill it. Given free rein they can and do destroy whole areas of forest that have been carefully managed for centuries.
I abhor animal cruelty, but we must as a society accept that murdering the odd squirrel in un-ideal ways that not everyone will ever agree with is the price of protecting something infintely more valuable to our society and is not a law that should require as much time, money or energy to defend as it has done in the case quoted above.