The Estate owners and shooting associations are quick to make huge claims of how the work they do benefits the moorland and the environment. What they don’t mention is that they are paid huge subsidies by the Government (that’s our money) to maintain bio-diverse habitats and ecosystems, rich in flora and fauna, but this is not what they are doing.
In the North of England and Scotland, the shooting of game birds and mammals is widespread. Habitat and 'predator management' are undertaken to increase game abundance and hunting bags and thus profits. The Grouse moor managers and Gamekeepers claim major conservation benefits as a result of traditional and 'sympathetic' moorland management. They say if the control of generalist predators by gamekeepers ceased, lapwing and golden plover numbers would drop by 81% and curlew by 47% within 10 years.
So what is really happening?
Game Shooting in the UK or Shame Shooting. Every year around 35 million non native, factory farmed pheasants and partridges are imported into the UK. They are sold to the 300 game shooting estates, an industry that is reported to be worth £1.6 billion to the economy. “One for the pot” is a myth. Many more birds are released each year than the demand