M&S at war with naturalist Chris Packham over grouse

LEADING retailer Marks & Spencer, has refused to rule out selling grouse shot after the official hunting season opens.

The upmarket food store has been targeted by wildlife campaigners, led by naturalist and BBC Springwatch presenter Chris Packham.

“Would you want to eat grouse from a supermarket anyway? I think not. They’re shot using lead ammunition,” he said.

Campaigners say they have previously found high levels of lead in grouse meat sold in another supermarket. They are now threatening to test any grouse sold by M&S.

Packham promised to boycott M&S if it sells grouse this year. He tweeted that hen harriers and mountain hares are killed to protect grouse so there are enough to be shot.

“Do you wish in any way to support this?” he said in a tweet. “How much blood do you want on your shelves?” in another.

Questioned repeatedly, an M&S spokeswoman declined to say whether it would be selling grouse. She also refused to name the estate with which the company is having discussions.

“We are currently working with our supplier to monitor numbers for this season and will only stock grouse if the numbers are strong,” she said.

“Two years ago we worked with independent industry experts and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust to introduce the game industry’s first codes of practice.”

But Packham told the Sunday Herald he doubted whether any driven grouse moors could prove they were environmentally sustainable. “The public no longer believe that these places are being suitably or sustainably managed,” he said, adding: “There’s no more hiding it. So something has to stop. Crime is crime and in the end criminals get their comeuppance.”

But Packham’s intervention prompted a furious response from the shooting and landowning lobby. Four countryside groups banded together to release a joint statement calling on the BBC to “rein him in”. Peter Glenser, chairman of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), accused Packham of espousing an antishooting agenda. “This must be stopped by the BBC if they want licence-fee payers to have faith in their editorial independence,” he said. “To condemn shot grouse as toxic is blatant misrepresentation.” According to Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, the BBC’s editorial guidelines required that presenters like Packham must not engage in controversial campaigns. “He cannot continue to trade on his profile as a BBC presenter to pedal mistruths and propaganda,” he said.