Charity calls for an end to driven grouse shooting on Glorious Twelfth

Bob Elliot

Large areas of upland Scotland are used for driven grouse shooting, with the land being managed to maximise the number of red grouse available for shooting.

In order to keep red grouse numbers as high as possible, gamekeepers routinely kill thousands of wild animals. Though not the target, domestic animals also sometimes get injured or killed, due to the indiscriminate methods used.

OneKind director, Bob Elliot, said: “There is nothing glorious about the day which marks the start of the shooting of large numbers of grouse.

“Thousands of wild animals that are predators to red grouse are killed all year round on Scotland’s driven grouse moors to ensure that high numbers of red grouse are available to be shot for ‘sport’.

“They can be legally trapped, shot and snared in Scotland’s countryside with very little in the way of public scrutiny, inspection, or regulation by the authorities.

“These animals experience considerable mental and physical suffering in cruel traps and snares: suffering which would be illegal and universally condemned if inflicted on domestic animals.

“In fact, Scotland is behind many countries in the protection afforded to wild animals. Only a few EU states permit and routinely use snares.”