The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Grouse shooting ‘irresponsible’ as bird flu continues
Game bird shooters are gathering at estates across the Highlands and north-east after the Glorious Twelfth – start of the red grouse shooting season – began yesterday.
However a wildlife campaign group has said the season should not be going ahead because of bird flu concerns.
The Revive coalition for grouse moor reform said killing more birds as the epidemic devastates some wild bird species is “wholly irresponsible and selfish”.
There have been no recorded cases of bird flu in any grouse species, the Scottish Government said.
The grouse season is worth an estimated £32 million, and is part of the £350m value of game and country sports to Scotland’s economy.
Peter Clark, of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation in Scotland, said grouse numbers are “looking healthy” on the moors but added there is a “mixed picture” across Scotland.
Wild birds are being severely hit by one of the worst outbreaks of bird flu recorded.
Widespread deaths of great skuas on many of Scotland’s coasts and islands including Shetland, Orkney, the Firth of Forth and the Western Isles is leading to fears of major population losses.
Gannets are dying at some of their key colonies and the virus is killing great numbers of sandwich and Arctic terns, eider ducks and guillemots and many other species. Raptors, notably Scotland’s iconic white-tailed eagle, are also affected.
Ruth Tingay of the Revive coalition – Friends of the Earth Scotland, Raptor Persecution UK, Common Weal, OneKind, and League Against Cruel Sports Scotland – said the full impact of the highly infectious virus on Scotland’s wild bird populations is not yet known.
Ms Tingay said: “We do know that it has killed tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of birds already and it is impacting on globally significant populations of some species in the UK.
“I’d argue it would be wholly irresponsible, and selfish, for game bird shoots to take place during such an epidemic.”
Kenneth Stephen of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association said the association has been following all government veterinary advice throughout the outbreak and will continue to do so. He said: “It’s not selfish and irresponsible, it’s following government guidance.
“If there was a problem with grouse shooting, if Defra discovered that there was an issue stemming from grouse shooting, then we would fully comply, as we have done throughout the entire avian flu outbreak.
“And it would be illegal not to.”
The Scottish Government said there have been “no recorded cases of avian influenza in any grouse species, and there are no restrictions in place on grouse shooting”.
However, it said the game bird industry throughout the UK has been “impacted by the number of avian influenza cases in France, where many partridge and pheasant chicks are sourced for the UK market”.
The statement added: “This has resulted in the introduction of restrictions on the movement of live birds and eggs.”