Hunting and Grouse shooting exempt from rule of six- what a surprise..

[Tellmetruth4]

So if poor people want to meet their extended families could they just club together to hire some land and claim they are chasing foxes followed by a nice pub lunch after? Would they be fined?

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/sep/14/hunting-in-england-exempt-from-rule-of-six-covid-19-restrictions

It’s absolutely awful though unfortunately I’m not surprised.

This government is shit and bloodsports are awful, but it's not like this was a special exception just for hunting - it's being filed under sports and activities that are exempt.

This. The Guardian are just stirring up class hate.

I used to be in the Hunt saboteurs - I hate all hunting, shooting and fishing, but even I can see that this is allowed, like other outdoor pursuits, because it is outdoors where risk of transmission is minimal.

The people making the covid rules were not tasked with deciding the morality of activities which are currently legal, just the transmission risk.

@Tavannach not really it is still shooting he also does this in groups too both over pigeons but also ducks as well as shooting other game. It’s still something you have to train for and is a skill to be accurate.

@Tavannach Don't be daft.
People who shoot don't do so because they're humane. They do it because it places them firmly in what they perceive to be an exclusive group

That is pure prejudice. The reality is that in the countryside people from all walks of life shoot. On the walked shoot here there is a complete mix - a car mechanic, school teacher, most of the staff from the local Chinese restaurant and the local bigwig who made his money in insurance.

An abattoir isn’t similar to hunting with guns and hounds. Imagine a prison where a criminal is to receive a death penalty with an injection or by a swift motion of a sword. Now imagine that same prisoner receiving a death sentence by hunting: a crowd of people running after you in woods, using hounds to scare you and corner you, and then using the same hounds to shred you to pieces.
Which killing is more humane? Which killing tells you how cruel the executioners are?
@Totickleamockingbird I'm a meat-eater but even I am well aware of the process that turns animal into food. The journey alone can be quite distressing for the animal. Certainly no less distressing than being chased into the air by the beaters before being shot out of the sky.

For those going on about those 'cruel, heartless Tory toffs' etc. You may wish to know that both the Scottish (SNP) and Welsh (Labour) devolved administrations have done the same.

The Guardian are just stirring up class hate.

Along with the Daily Mail, Metro, The Times, The Tatler, the Huffington Post who have all published it.

The problem is the people who take pleasure in the kill. Like this man, in case you missed it upthread.

You can't say that because there are other cruel things happening to animals (factory farming), another cruel thing (hunting) is fine. That literally makes no sense.

Shooting provides support to rural economies.

It controls populations - especially stalking - and prevents old and feeble animals dying miserably of starvation.

It promotes land management.

It is a source of lean meat. I would say the average life of a pheasant is better than most farmed chickenS, a deer better than a penned pig.

It’s aim is to ensure a quick, clean death.

It is a good thing for our country whether people find it distasteful or not.

The poster calling people sick and in need of seeing a psychiatrist for having opposing views to them isn’t very good at arguing.

ah yes 'land management' fencing off huge areas of public land and turning it into sterile pine woodland. Or the evironmental nightmares that come from grouseland.

How can you say that it's for population control when hunts literally breed foxes to use for their 'sport'?

I have never heard of foxes being bred specifically to be hunted and I think it would be a shitty thing to do. I googled it and found a few cases mentioned in the press and couldn’t find the other side’s arguments. Foxes are a menace to livestock - it would be cruel to deliberately increase their numbers for both them and other animals. I don’t support urban foxes being relocated to the countryside either.

I don’t know about public land being fenced off. Was this to grow pines for pheasant rearing? Sounds a bit weird.

Gamekeeper activities on grouse moors increase biodiversity in birds like plovers. Do you mean the ecological nightmare resulting from birds of prey being shot? I agree that that’s grim - but it doesn’t mean that the whole system is bad.

You can't say that because there are other cruel things happening to animals (factory farming), another cruel thing (hunting) is fine. That literally makes no sense.

It doesn't but what makes even less sense is the amount of people happy to turn a blind eye to the suffering of literally billions of animals (factory farming) that are also outraged over the arguably* lesser suffering of a few thousand animals (hunting).

• I say arguably because if I were to be given the choice of being a fox, living free and naturally before being suffering an extremely violent death or being a pig, raised in a shed, forced to lie immobile in my own piss and shit in a gestation create, raising litter after litter before suffering a traumatic lorry ride, and then an extremely violent death, I know which I'd choose.

It's really not a sport....

It's not just culling by shooting though is it? It's the fact they have lots of dogs to also tear the foxes apart...

@EmmetEmma

Shooting provides support to rural economies.

It controls populations - especially stalking - and prevents old and feeble animals dying miserably of starvation.

It promotes land management.

It is a source of lean meat. I would say the average life of a pheasant is better than most farmed chickenS, a deer better than a penned pig.

It’s aim is to ensure a quick, clean death.

It is a good thing for our country whether people find it distasteful or not.

The poster calling people sick and in need of seeing a psychiatrist for having opposing views to them isn’t very good at arguing.

Indeed and agreed as evidently this thread is somewhat lacking in balance, empathy and borderline discriminatory and offensive. I am no hunter gatherer and have yet to participate in grouse or pleasant shooting nor fox hunting etc. I do not find it particularly agreeable as an activity (killing of animals for sport) however on balance I recognise that these types of country sports are carried out by small groups in fresh air of the countryside and so pose little or limited risk of Covid spreading. I ride and love equestrian pursuits but unsure about fox hunting but that is as an aside and not discussed in this thread. I understand from country folk (rich and not) that these traditional rural pastimes contribute much to their local communities especially during winter season in addition to maintaining the much loved flora and fauna and ecological balance. As someone who previously enjoyed and excelled at shooting in university gun club competitions I appreciate and extol the exemplary virtues of absolute discipline and always (OCD) over the top adherence to strict highly respected health and safety laws and protocols governing such activities. Any inadvertent dropping of guard or inadvertent incorrect behaviour or omission then one will be ejected from any further participation. These sports in the right controlled environment and setting is not one for cowboys nor those with selective rule obedience. They also don't inadvertently spread Covid (much) as with the government list of other outdoor sporting and health promoting activities.

I have not read 10 pages BUT for all the posters saying it's a sport, it's not.

It's because it is a business. Like farming. Like rearing pigs, cows, sheep.

That is why it's exempt because it's some people's livelihoods.

Nothing to do with sport.

A lot of game ends up in supermarkets in London.

I despise hunters with passion and cheer st hunting accidents. If they get covid - serves them right.

Huge swathes of land are taken over with exciting promises of woodland management. They actually just fill these areas with non native pine for pheasants rather than our native deciduous trees- which then covers the floor in a blanket which causes flooding, acidic run off, landslides and an utterly bleak landscape. And nobody else is allowed to go near it.

For grouse on the other hand they 'manage' the land by burning huge amounts that dont need to be, killing various plants and animals and habitats in the process- for more bleak, unnatural landscape.

This 'townies dont understand the ways of the country' is utter crap. Its these landowners who are ruining the countryside and letting nobody near it whilst happily pocketing tax paid subsidies.

Environmental impacts of high‐output driven shooting of Red Grouse

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ibi.12356