Tag: gamekeeper

Two spaniels poisoned by ‘Nidderdale cocktail’

Posted on July 30, 2020October 19, 2020 by Charlie

This is what grouse shooting has brought us to: the burning of rare habitats, massive use of bird and mammal traps, illegal persecution of birds of prey, and now a spaniel killed by a mix of illegal poisons with its own nickname derived from the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the ‘Nidderdale Cocktail’, “a deadly mixture of chemicals including bendiocarb, alphachloralose and the banned pesticides carbofuran and isofenphos. None of these chemicals should ever be used in an environment where domestic animals and/or wildlife could come into contact with them.

Guest Post | 2020 – Not a good year for Gamekeepers!

Posted on June 29, 2020June 30, 2020 by Charlie

2020 has been dubbed ‘Year Of The Gamekeeper’ by the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), who say ‘The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness of gamekeepers; what they do, how they support UK agriculture and the role they play in conservation’. With gamekeepers classing themselves as ‘essential workers’ through the lockdown, and stories of illegal persecution of protected species hitting the news recently, we thought it was a fitting time to ‘raise awareness’ ourselves of what gamekeepers actually do…” Guest post by Emily and Rose Jones

Note the quotation marks: ‘Appeal after ”protected” Peak District buzzard is shot’

Posted on June 5, 2020October 19, 2020 by Charlie

Are some in the mainstream media finally understanding how widespread raptor persecution is? And that rather than quoting a few lines of puffery and denial from the likes of the Moorland Association the public want a more accurate account? That could well be the case because for a headline to contain “protected” in quotation marks (as here on ITV News online) suggests that at least a few journalists are starting to recognise that UK legislation “protecting” birds of prey isn’t worth the paper it’s written on while armed individuals are out shooting at them as part of their “job”…

Book Review: Bob Berzins | Snared

Posted on June 1, 2020July 6, 2020 by Charlie

The driven grouse industry will hate every line of ‘Snared’, but Bob Berzins knows what he is talking about, and his experiences have been condensed into this powerful story. Every paragraph, every wildlife crime, every environmental sacrilege, and every abuse of privilege and power rings true.

What motivates gamekeepers? That’s not the point…

Posted on May 8, 2020May 14, 2020 by Charlie

It does seem, according to a recent PhD research paper, that the prevailing view that gamekeepers are out to tally up as many dead ‘predators’ as possible partly because they enjoy it might indeed be correct. After all, if you spend your working life laying waste to wildlife just so that your employer can sell tame birds to shooters getting their rocks off using live animals for target practice you’d better enjoy it. It would be an unbearable way to pick up a wage otherwise, surely. But is ‘what motivates gamekeepers’ really the point?

Press release: Grouse moor burning season closes with prospect of ban

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Charlie

“Voluntary efforts by the government to dampen down grouse moor burning have gone up in smoke with hundreds of fires deliberately started on Yorkshire’s iconic moorlands this season…on top of driving vulnerable wildlife from its moorland home, burning on sensitive peatland degrades ecosystems, releases climate-altering gasses into the atmosphere and worsens flooding and wildfire risk.” Luke Steele, Ban Bloodsports on Yorkshire’s Moors

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