Bird f lu ‘is being used by Glorious 12th critics’
BIRD flu is being used as ‘leverage’ by a wildlife charity to push an ‘anti-shooting agenda’, it was claimed yesterday.
The Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) made the accusation after the RSPB called for bans on the new sport season.
Yesterday the charity demanded an immediate block on the release of game birds for shooting to prevent an ‘unfolding catastrophe’ of bird flu.
Although there have been 912 cases in the UK’s wild birds since the start of the year, there have been no recorded incidents at any Scottish game farms.
A spokesman for the SGA said: ‘The RSPB understands what they are doing here. They are using the leverage of an incident which is worrying everyone to continue what has become a persistent anti-shooting agenda.
‘Game farms should actually be praised for the strict biosecurity checks they are carrying out because, to our knowledge, in Scotland there have been no avian flu impacts from game farms.’ Today marks the start of the ‘Glorious Twelfth’ as the shooting season begins.
Every year around 55million pheasants and red-legged partridges and 2.6million mallard ducks are released into the UK countryside for sport after being imported or bred in captivity.
Pheasants in the UK first tested positive for the influenza strain in Lincolnshire in 2018 and a further 13 times since at three properties where game is bred for sport.
The RSPB fears the release of infected captive birds could threaten more wildlife. James Reynolds, the charity’s head of communications, said: ‘We have a neutral view on shooting – this is about the risks associated with spreading Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza.’
Bob Elliot, of animal welfare charity OneKind, said: ‘What could possibly be considered glorious about a day which marks the start of the shooting of grouse for “fun” and the killing of other wild animals to maximise profit for the “sport”?’