SHOOTING
EIGHT REASONS TO OPPOSE GROUSE SHOOTING
- Killing birds for sport is cruel and uncivilised.
- A large number of native birds and mammals who interfere with grouse shooting are trapped, poisoned or snared. Victims include stoats, weasels, and even iconic raptors such as hen harriers, red kites and golden eagles.
- An unnatural, heather-rich environment is created because the grouse thrive on young heather shoots. To create fresh young shoots, the heather is burned, which can harm wildlife and damage the environment.
- The burning of heather, reports an expert, ‘threatens to release millions of tonnes of carbon locked into the peat bogs underpinning the moors. Where burning occurs, the hydrology changes and the peat is open to decomposition and erosion. This strips the moor of carbon as surely as setting fire to the Amazon Forest.’ (Adrian Yallop, New Scientist magazine, 12 August 2006)
- A technique used to encourage new heather growth and provide habitat for grouse is to dig drainage ditches. This is another source of damage to the peat bogs. It dries them out and, like burning, causes carbon to be released. Draining can also cause flooding of low-lying areas and discolouration of reservoir drinking water.
- The harsh ‘management’ of moorlands causes grouse numbers to boom. But as they overburden the landscape, they become weakened and fall prey to a lethal parasite – Strongylosis. This attacks the gut and leads to a collapse in the population. A cycle of population boom and bust is the norm on Britain’s grouse moors.
- Large quantities of lead shot are discharged, which is toxic to wildlife.
- Grouse shooting estates use the Countryside and Rights of Way Act to restrict public access to mountain and moorland.
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