This report into the shooting industry covers both the intensive animal abuse and environmental damage caused by the shooting industry.
Why then is it allowed to continue, when it causes so much destruction to the environment and to animals?
Certainly, pro-bloodsports lobbyists are well-connected and wealthy, but they should not be able to continue killing our countryside when the majority are against this so-called ‘entertainment’ and the damage they cause.
Stories about the persecution of raptors by those involved in shooting come though at an alarming rate. The shooting industry has repeatedly dragged its heels on ceasing to use lead shot – all whilst insisting that it cares about the countryside! It has tried to block bans on snares in Wales and Scotland (and will likely do the same for the proposed ban in England) using spurious arguments about ground nesting birds to justify the destruction of native wild animals.
Our research has shown that not only have there been outbreaks of avian flu at game farms but, outrageously, these farms are compensated by the taxpayer for the loss of “stock” when the birds are “culled” by government officials. Game farms also receive other agricultural subsidies – again, funded by the taxpayer – despite the industry insisting how valuable it is to the UK economy.
The shooting industry represents all that is unpalatable about or past: the exploitation of our countryside to enable an elitist bloodsport which is completely out of touch with majority opinion and sentiment. It’s a relic and it has to go.
But it won’t go without a fight because those who breed millions of beautiful birds just to shoot them out the sky and watch as they plummet to earth, don’t want to give up this gruesome pastime. They don’t want the countryside to be used for positive projects by people who truly care, respect and cherish the countryside.
So we need you – all of you – to do more than oppose it. We need you to take action.