Driven Grouse Shooting...BBC show sparks outrage

[Catherine]

I had never heard of the driven grouse shooting. I understand that thousands of birds are killed every year. People are not to happy about Countryfile doing a broadcast about it. They interviewed people who support it and who are against it.
The massive bird slaughter is justified because it has being going on for years. I still can't see how doing the wrong thing for years can in any way make it the right thing. Time does not make something better.

http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0


I think it is a good thing that people are upset. I know they are upset about the program, but maybe that will carry on into the movement to stop the killing. I wish them luck fighting it. These beautiful birds should be allowed to live their lives in peace. Is that too much to ask?

[Tobi]

I abhor blood sports. It really is irrelevant how long someone has been doing something. That is not an argument for ethics surrounding any practice!

100 million a year to the "rural ecomomy"? I don't think so. The organisers of the events, the landowners/gamekeepers/land managers etc will benefit from it. But who else benefits? The village people nearby, or local businesses? I doubt it. That argument doesn't condone massacre of any creature either! That is just waffle meant to convince us mass kiling has to be a good thing!
These people do not even need to eat the birds. They are no way hungry enough. They already have fat bellies.
I truly hope one day all blood sports will disappear. And those who support them should be ashamed of themselves.

[Catherine]

In the end we will have to give up all blood sports. The killing in no way makes us better people. It diminishes us all. As long as such activities exist in the world we are all effected by  them. 

If we are ever going to be better than we are now, we have to give up "traditions" that are barbaric and in no way justifiable.

Wouldn't it be nice if people came to see the grouse alive. They could stay in the villages and be tourists. They could come back year after year and see the same grouse. It would be a sustainable activity.

Hunting is a dead end. You kill the birds and then they are gone. It doesn't make sense and I don't see how it can be fun.

[Tobi]

(08-17-2016, 02:13 PM)Catherine Wrote: .

Wouldn't it be nice if people came to see the grouse alive. They could stay in the villages and be tourists. They could come back year after year and see the same grouse. It would be a sustainable activity.

That is an excellent idea. Bird/wildlife-watching holidays, which would be sustainable business for quite a few people, and truly benefit the community and village life! There is good money to be made in the leisure industry. Many people involved in that have become millionaries.

[Catherine]

There is more money to be made by eco-tourism than there is from hunting. Eco-tourism is sustainable and can be done all year round.  Different birds are around at different times, but there is always something in an area to attract tourists. The hunts are usually once a year.

The eco-tourists could stay longer and make a real holiday out of it. They could buy interesting souvenirs and support local industry.

The hunts last a few days a year and I can't see that  there would be much of a market for T shirts saying " I just killed a bunch of innocent birds" or coffee mugs with pictures of dead grouse on them.

It is two different attitudes to life and the one is sustainable. If the people think it over they will support bird watching tours over bird killing tours.