Because I have what is essentially a gun dog (although it doesn’t work) and I drive a country type vehicle, people could be excused for accusing me of being two faced in my rant against the greedy bastards who are raping the moorlands and uplands in pursuit of the handsome cash that morons will pay to shoot a waddling grouse.

Greed has engulfed this ‘sport’ leaving no wildlife left. The near extinction of hen harrier is what has grabbed the headlines but everything else has gone as well, mountain hares, peregrines and golden eagles are all gone, virtually persecuted out of existence in these areas.

Because they are rare, it is a crime to kill birds of prey but there is big money in grouse shooting and harriers kill grouse, no one denies that, so the crime goes on. However, as citizens of the UK, we do not pay taxes to allow our indigenous species to be wiped out so all there is left in the countryside are grouse and pheasants..well I don’t anyway.

It is difficult to make this law stick, as just a little research will show you that MP’s (Richard Benyon) and media giants (The Rothermere family) have a huge interest in these gravy trains, but by signing a petition it will at least get to parliament with 100,000 or more signatures.

There are is also an ecological impact due to the burning and draining issues associated with driven grouse shooting but I cannot begin to understand that, so I will stop there (the chap in the video above explains it). What I do know, is that unless you are a millionaire landowner, there is nothing to be gained from wiping out Britain’s indigenous species, absolutely nothing.

Do you want to take your kids or grandkids for a walk in the countryside and see nothing but game birds?

Do your bit to stop the raping of our beautiful countryside by signing this petition to bring this crime to a head and ban or at least restrict driven grouse shoots.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/125003