Flush from its great triumph in banning the hunting of foxes and stags without actually stopping fox and stag hunting, I see that Labour party activists have turned their attention to saving the grouse by banning shooting, as the Times reported a while back.
It is far from clear, however, that those pushing for this move understand the relationship between shooting and conservation (just as they didn't understand the links between fox hunting and the countryside). It's possible, therefore, that such a move would see the end of the grouse as well as of shooting – and put the many other species that co-exist with the grouse on the moorland at greater risk either by habitat changes or by more intense predation.
Whatever the future legislative success of this daringly progressive move, it would be well to remember that grouse (pheasants, partridge, wildfowl, etc ...) shooters are not the end-target here. That is anglers. Only when the millions of people who fish in rivers and canals are banished will the activists truly rest easy.
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