RF, William, Kate and cruelty to animals

[JumpingJiminy]

We don't often hear much about what the RF are up to with blood sports and sports that involve animal cruelty.

There's another thread on her about polo which I had no idea was such a cruel sport.

Yet William's happy to play. I know he believes his life's grift is pretending to save the environment and end poverty.

But in this age of increased awareness, more young people being vegan, or just more people more aware of cruelty, how does the Wales' involvement in cruelty to animals place them for future success as monarchs. Particularly when said younger people don't support them in the same way older people do.

Or is this all going to be underreported, and they'll do the usual shooting, and polo playing, etcetera, widening the gap between their relevance and younger people's expectations.

Wills in action! Prince of Wales shows off his polo skills in annual Windsor charity match - as cousin Peter Phillips and his new flame Harriet Sperling turn out in support | Daily Mail Online https://share.google/nsikS4mu2WWF6dEHs

Increasingly unpopular with people raised there? Or people that moved there?

All the farmers and farmers kids around me growing up hunted (and ate) rabbits. My parents came from London so didn't know anything about that, and so I never had an air rifle, never learned.

Is hunting rabbits cruel?

@JumpingJiminy

“Both William and Catherine are passing on the normality of these sports within their family, so it's obviously nothing they find problematic.”

Do you have evidence of this ?

Oh riiiight, that’s why you started it. Well I’m not stopping anyone discussing ‘Kate’s’ animal cruelty, you go for it 👍

Personally I would prefer it if nobody played polo, plenty of people on the other thread agreed William shouldn’t either. It’s just a bit unfortunate, and bound to be pointed out if you start discussing the RF and animal cruelty, that it’s Harry in the photo with the pony bleeding from use of spurs, Harry who rode a pregnant mare which then collapsed and died, Harry questioned by the police for shooting hen harriers, Harry posing with his rifle next to a dead buffalo. Do post equivalent stories about ‘Kate’ though, if you like.

Does Catherine shoot animals? Or clays / targets?

I shoot. My whole family do in fact. It's a bit of a myth that everything shot on shoots is eaten. Lots of birds are actually dumped and pheasants are fairly intensively reared in large numbers for the sole purpose of being blasted out of the sky in an often not particularly sporting fashion.

I think in the scheme of all the crappy things happening in this country under this government William playing polo is the thing that least worries me.

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge face backlash after taking Prince George, 7, on grouse shoot | Daily Mail Online share.google/RN8GSzQATcJDyfVeD

I can understand if you are vegan or vegetarian then shooting for food may be abhorrent to you.

But meat eaters cannot object to shoots where all meat is eaten afterwards.

I have a vegetarian friend who will eat hunted meat because her objection to eating meat is based on how animals are killed for mass production.

Where we live deer need to be culled because their natural predators Bob cats and mountain lions have been edged out of their natural habitat. Doing that and also feeding your family for a year is not ‘monstrous’.

From that article

Prince William has periodically walked a fine line with his passion for bloodsports and high-profile conservation campaigns.

He was heavily criticised in 2014 for flying off with Harry on a boar hunting trip on the Duke of Westminster's Spanish estate days before taking part in a campaign to highlight poaching and the illegal wildlife trade.

They're all a bunch of entitled, out of touch tossers. The late Queen had 123 laws changed in favour of the RF (under Monarch's Consent), one of which related to animal welfare. Up-coming generations aren't going to put up with this crap. As for harping on about whether Kate is cruel to animals or not is hardly the point. She married into a family that is, and seems pretty content with that and every other aspect of their immoral privilege.

They usually eat what they shoot- but it’s basically disposing of the casualties of their hobby. It’s not as if game birds are bred for the pot!

So 5 years ago , George was taken to observe some country sports .
Anything more recent ?
I was brought up in the country and from a young age was a beater at shoots yet have managed not to go off the rails as a result .

They're only well cared for to benefit the rider.

As are all pets and animals that humans interact with?

I can understand if you are vegan or vegetarian then shooting for food may be abhorrent to you.

That's what I mentioned in my OP.

More younger people are vegan, so one question I was attempting to ask was how William and Kate's values wrt blood sports, country sports, sports like polo, will chime with those younger people when W and C are king and queen consort.

They won't have the rafts of older people who loved TLQ, and support C3.

Younger people already think the monarchy is irrelevant, so is the royal family's support of these sports going to put them at further odds to what will be the people they need to persuade to keep them.

But isn’t that all sports involving horses? Or any riding at all?

I’m not disputing that polo may be particularly hard on the horses but is it a lot worse than eventing, racing etc?

Quite! The number that end up as roadkill is phenomenal round here at certain times of the year. There are masses of cage escapees dithering about as they do.

Anything involving animals would come under the banner - just different requirements in return.
polo itself isn’t cruel - same as horse racing isn’t cruel or eventing / showjumping etc. some people don’t like it, but that doesn’t mean it’s cruel. I’ve groomed for polo, show jumping and racing and they were looked after better than most people’s happy hackers - racehorses most definitely are and it’s very simple, the better you look after them, the healthier and the better they can do their job for you. Happy horses perform.

Why target polo? All that has been stated as cruel is pretty much what you see at a local horse show or pony club gymkhana. cruel is also leaving horses stuck in a stable 23 hours a day but plenty of ‘respectable’ people do that.

grouse population needs to be controlled, as does deer. I would much rather have meat from a deer killed in its natural environment than from a cow which has travelled hundreds of miles in an overcrowded lorry with no food or water. Less of an easy target to take on though - more low profile.

I think most people couldn’t give a hoot what the royal family get up to and really can’t be bothered to hate on them for something that they don’t think about one way or another.

Farmers aren't the only people that live in the countryside, there's plenty more people who are several generation. Many of whom don't support these sports. And many do of course.

These two people in particular are going to become king and queen consort, so what they do is relevant because of the stuff about younger generations I’ve mentioned and how things might work out for them popularity wise.

Okay - so perhaps the original topic question should be how can William as future monarch set an example for best practices for hunting and shooting sports going forward.

Hunting and shooting live game when it’s for environmental reasons - culling population and making sure no animal killed is wasted.

Hunting and shooting non live targets for sport the rest of the time.

As someone who is hugely anti “blood sports” and is an educator it makes me furious that on one hand the Duchess of Wales painted herself as some sort of early years expert while at the same time she’d let her kids go shooting. It’s abhorrent.

I would much rather have meat from a deer killed in its natural environment than from a cow which has travelled hundreds of miles in an overcrowded lorry with no food or water.

I agree. I used to practically live off venison one particular season there were so many! And there was always at least one deer hanging up bleeding in the local estate barn.

You're right about cows (and other intensely farmed animals).

Who the fuck is the Duchess of Wales 🤪😂