SHOTGUN KILLERS

THERE’S KILLING IN OUR GREEN AND (COULD BE MORE) PLEASANT LAND
It is hard out there. It is very hard in our beautiful countryside that can be full of treasures. It is under pressure from several sources. There are killers out there.

On the BBC’s Countryfile on Sunday evening there was a discussion about the process of obtaining, or for the process of the renewal of, shotgun certificates. Tom Heap talked about the contentious new rules involving them. For the purpose of this document it is not relevant, but the comment that followed is pertinent.

Referring to the shotgun that was in the presenter’s hands, Tom Heap, who referred to it as, and I quote, ‘A VITAL TOOL OF THE COUNTRYSIDE’. On hearing this I reacted immediately. Bloody hell, I thought, it is a killing device only, and the killers that use these weapons do not need any encouragement to do that especially on main stream TV. They kill beautiful things that should be there for the enjoyment of all of us. How can an item that is intended solely for killing being anything but that? There was no mention of shooting at clays and so he could only have meant one thing. It was a ‘vital tool’ for one thing only and that was to kill the animals and birds that are in OUR countryside. The concept being that the presence of those are lessened or even eradicated for the greater good of food supply and even sport.

In July I read an article in the Scottish Sunday Times where it was said that Salmon farmers have the right to shoot seals in the same way that farmers have the right to shoot foxes to stop them killing young lambs. It is as though both have that divine right to kill their perceived enemies and to eradicate their specific problem
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I understand that where the wild comes into contact with urban living and domesticated animals, then, there is a conflict of interests. It is how we manage that area where the two opposites meet that matters.

We need a reliable food source and this leads to intensive ways of doing it. This promotes animals living in close proximity to each other and thereby disease is more easily transmitted between them
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I now come back to my main point involving shotguns. Red Grouse and Pheasants are intensively reared and their existence is only there for sport. They need to be fed additionally to what is available naturally and have access to supplements to try and keep them healthy. Where these birds exist is to the detriment of the indigenous wildlife. There can be no happy co-existence, especially when you add into that there is the regular use of poisons, and raptors and corvids are being removed by lead shot. There are shotgun killers out there that kill, not for the greater good, but for a minority.