Does anybody else find this image of Donald Trump as a four year old somehow disturbing? Somehow I’m reminded of one of those old horror films… Like Village of the Damned or something….
Is it just me or do other people find grouse shooting to be a barbaric and sadistic pastime? Round here, for years and years, maybe generations, the various Dukes have been employing people to rear pheasant chicks from eggs, to rear them on food, virtually by hand, that they cannot find in nature but which fattens them up quickly; to train them to trust human beings and then, on a given day, send other employees out to thrash the bushes and grass to drive the poor startled creatures out into the open to be shot at by people who are “having a jolly good day out”. Not all are killed, some are just badly wounded and die a long and painful death. At the end of this day of glorious fun, some of the dead birds which can’t be sold or are in too poor a state to be eaten are tossed into a pile and subsequently buried or burned. We have this going on near our house from, I think, 1st October to 1st March every year. I have a garden which is full of wild native birds which I feed, and in the course of the season the pheasants learn that there is food and peace and quiet for them in my garden. This morning I counted 33 pheasants on my lawn. I happily allow them to eat the bird seed as it lets them escape their fate in the fields. Some of them even manage to rear young in my garden. Here is a petition to sign, issued by Chris Packham and promoted by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust. I should be very grateful to anyone who signs it and helps to end this ridiculous practice of slaughtering semi tame animals. Petition: Ban driven grouse shooting Here are some of this year’s brood. Thank you.
If I remember grouse are found on heather moorland and are not amenable to being reared like pheasants and they munch young grouse shoots, hence the burning regularly carried out on grouse moors. The grouse season is August 12th to December 10th. Pheasants can be shot between Oct 1st and Feb 1st, they are amenable to more intensive rearing. They are bigger bird than grouse so you need less for a dinner. They are also notoriously stupid.
True, they are different birds. And yes, pheasants are remarkably stupid. In some ways. But not all - one tries to get in our cat flap on a regular basis because it knows there is bird food behind that door. The petition is for grouse shooting. One step at a time. With luck, pheasant shooting will be next on the agenda. We hear a lot about”rogue” gamekeepers killing birds of prey. But who pays these “rogues”?
I often hear some idiot with a gun shooting things in the fields behind my house. It's bad. I even think fishing is bad because the people catching the fish enjoy it, and anyone who enjoys killing things is bad. I know they eat the fish and one has to have food, but they do it because they enjoy it and that's bad. I don't even kill slugs in my garden. I will sign the petition.
Is all grouse shooting done of wild birds then? This kind of thing never happens anywhere near where I live, too much farming and industry housing etc. I've often had thoughts about pheasant shooting, first raising the birds and then letting a basically tame bird lose in the countryside to be shot. Then I think chicken farm, and it kind of becomes difficult to excuse either.
Petition signed @Tidemark , as a vegan of nearly 40 years standing, I can’t believe how cruel some people can be. It’s sickening.
I don’t eat meat. Anything which might once have had eyes or ears or a mouth or a nose. I just gave up one day and never looked back. Even our daft old pheasants have their own distinct personalities. When you realise that an animal as “simple minded” as a chicken has its own persona it becomes more and more difficult to see it as a dismembered chunk of bloody meat on the kitchen worktop. There was a nice little programme on the radio the other day on just this topic. Café Hope - Rescuing chickens around the cluck - BBC Sounds
And tiny mouth too! There’s an estate a mile or so away where pheasants are reared. I often see them in grass verges along the roads here and they do visit my garden from time to time. They are somewhat lacking in the smarts dept, very easily bewildered and puzzled, but I find that rather endearing. Prince George was taken on his first shoot when he was about 5. He was photographed carrying a small fluffy toy rabbit. The irony seemed lost on his parents.
I suspect not; as one is still extant and in Moscow and the other has been dead for nearly 30 years. Perhaps current pictures of both might help answer your question?
