Inglorious 12th: Avian f lu could decimate shoots
Fears for jobs at sporting estates
SCOTLAND’S £200 million gamebird shooting industry is under threat as the worst outbreak of avian influenza on record sweeps the globe.
The outbreak is predicted to decimate this year’s season, with some Highland sporting estates facing catastrophic financial implications and gamekeepers already being paid off.
Last night, Alex Hogg, chairman of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, said: ‘We are really concerned about it, we’ve had terrible problems sourcing pheasants and partridges this year. Some keepers have lost their jobs because there’s just no shooting to sustain it, it’s drastic, horrible.
‘The small shoots, they’re the ones that really suffer. Some of the bigger shoots have managed to hold together but lots and lots of keepers are getting paid off and shoots are shutting down.’
Around 240,000 people enjoy shooting in Scotland and thousands more international visitors take part each year, providing financial support to local economies. In terms of financial losses, Mr Hogg said: ‘It’ll be millions. It’s so sad. It’s also a winter tourism attraction which takes the hotels right through until January and it’s a great booster for them.’
The outbreak has caused the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to stop imports of sporting birds from France, which account for 80 per cent of Scotland’s game bird population. French authorities reportedly paid compensation to gamekeepers and farmers to crush 25 million eggs because of bird flu.
Mr Hogg said: ‘Keepers and farmers probably should be given compensation because they could be losing their job, house and way of life, they live in [tied] accommodation so everything goes if you lose your job.’
Paul Wigley, professor of avian infection and immunity at the University of Liverpool, said: ‘If you’re shooting a pheasant, it’s flying and it’s probably unlikely to have pathogenic avian flu, but pheasants are galliformes [ground-feeding birds] so they’re similar to chickens and are susceptible to influenza.’
Professor Wigley added: ‘You’d also expect to see high levels of disease when they’re being reared by gamekeepers.’
The flu has already crossed the species barrier, and scientists have warned that if gun dogs retrieve diseased birds on a shoot there is a possibility they could also contract the disease.
The season commences on August 12 for grouse and in September and October for pheasants and partridges.