The UK’s managed shoot industry, which sees millions of pheasants raised and shot every year, has received support from an unexpected quarter. In a blog published on the website of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, its conservation director Martin Harper has praised the role of managed shoots in protecting wildlife. “The contribution […]
Tag: Pheasant
Is It Spring Yet?
I realize the east coast of the US is reeling from the latest of many severe winter storms this winter. But here in SW Colorado spring is in the air. It has been unseasonably warm with snow pack far below normal. The ski resorts are hurting and exceptionally dry conditions may cause issues later this year. But […]
The Gamebird Industry: It’s Not a Game. It’s a Disgrace
Every year in Britain, around 40 million pheasants and partridges are mass-produced like commercial poultry so that they can be shot down by wealthy ‘guns’. This bloody and brutal end to their lives is the final insult. From birth, they are kept in cages, sheds and pens, in which disease and death are a daily […]
Gamekeeper found guilty of poisoning 10 buzzards and a sparrowhawk
A gamekeeper found with a bag of nine dead buzzards on a pheasant-shooting estate has been found guilty of intentionally killing a protected species in what is England’s worst recorded case of poisoning birds of prey. Allen Lambert, gamekeeper for 24 years at the Stody Estate in Norfolk, will be sentenced next month after being […]
Petition: Save British Birds of Prey
Britain’s rarest birds of prey, including red kites, sparrowhawks and peregrine falcons, are being shot, trapped and poisoned in record numbers. This persecution might be completely illegal, but inadequate legislation in England makes it easy for gamekeepers to massacre any nuisance, real or imagined. The birds are being slaughtered because of a perceived threat to […]
Collateral Damage
It’s well known that gamekeepers do their best to stop predators – like eagles, foxes, kites and others – from eating valuable game birds. Every grouse or pheasant is worth around £30-40 to an estate. But what is recently beginning to emerge is the extent to which gamekeepers in Scotland are persecuting mountain hares. There […]
Critically endangered species in Sumatra on the road to extinction
Critically endangered wildlife, including some of the last Sumatran tigers as well as rhinos, bears and eagles, could be wiped out if plans go ahead to construct a major road through an Indonesian tropical forest reserve currently being restored by British conservationists. The 51km-road, which would enable 850 truckloads of coal a day to be […]
POLL: Should the Slaughter of Grouse be allowed to continue?
Today is the “Glorious Twelth”, a day when according to tradition hunting enthusiasts gather on moors in Scotland and the north of England to shoot Grouse. Proponents will tell you that that this is an important British tradition. They will also argue that it is good for Britain’s economy by attracting tourists, providing jobs for […]