Sharpshooter

If you live in the US, you could get the chance of dicing with bison as the National Park Service calls for a cull, and do you like halal meat?

In the US, members of the public are prohibited from being in possession of a gun in a national park. The idea is that national parks should be something like true wilderness areas, unsullied by humans. Activities such as forestry and fieldsports are banned and hardly anybody is allowed to live within park boundaries.

Yet, as so often, this “leaving it all to nature” approach turns out to be a tad unrealistic. Take the example of Grand Canyon National Park, in Arizona. Here, the National Park Service (NPS) has recently decided that there are too many bison. It has worked out that it needs to cull the current population of 600 bison down to 200 in the interests of a sustainable habitat.

According to USA Today, wildlife experts fear the 600 bison present could increase to 1,500 or more in 10 years, if left unchecked. Hence the need for a severe cull now. The NPS plans a lottery to select hunters to shoot the bison. It wants each volunteer hunter to team up with a Park Service employee to target selected animals within park boundaries.

The NPS stipulates non-lead rifle ammunition, because there are condors in the park. Research carried out elsewhere has shown that these birds are susceptible to lead poisoning from unrecovered carcases shot with lead ammo.

Bison hunting in Grand Canyon National Park would entail travelling over rough terrain at altitudes of up to 8,000ft. Volunteers will have to prove their eligibility by demonstrating that they can carry a 60lb pack for at least eight miles, and shoot to an acceptable standard of accuracy. It sounds like a worthwhile task. I wonder if non-residents can apply?

Stunning facts

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has expressed concern that animal welfare standards are being compromised after a steep growth in the non-stun slaughter of livestock. In 2013, the proportion of sheep and goats slaughtered by having their throat cut without being pre-stunned was about 15 per cent. Yet this rose to almost a quarter of sheep and goats slaughtered between April and June this year, according to the Food Standards Agency. The increase for poultry has been even steeper, rising from three per cent in 2013 to 18.5 per cent in 2017.

Slaughtering livestock in line with strict minority religious practices is legally exempt from animal welfare legislation. A compromise is to stun the animal before cutting its throat — but even that is unacceptable by many in the religious communities concerned.

Interestingly, it seems the amount of meat being produced in line with religious slaughter requirements is far greater than that required by religious communities. So where is all the additional non-stunned meat production going? According to the BVA, it is going into the food chain and being eaten by the general public. There are calls to bring in clear labelling, so that consumers are able to make a choice.

What I find fascinating is that religious slaughter seems to be largely ignored by the usual suspects in the animal welfare lobby. This is despite the fact that many millions of animal deaths are involved. The silence from the RSPCA, which campaigns against badger culling on purported animal welfare grounds, is deafening.

“Wildlife experts fear the 600 bison in the park could increase to 1,500 or more in 10 years”