The Countryside Alliance has filed a formal complaint with the BBC against presenter Chris Packham for “encouraging illegal behaviour” by backing anti-hunt saboteurs who prevented cricket icon Ian Botham from shooting grouse.
In the Peak District’s Snailsden Moor, close to Penistone, as Lord Botham and his hunting party were getting ready to go shooting on August 16, a group of protesters wearing black clothing known as the Hunt Saboteurs Association came across the area.
As part of a series of efforts to sabotage the start of the season, “Beefy” Lord Ian Botham took a seat in front of the former all-4×4 rounder’s during the legal shoot that was finally abandoned by saboteurs.
After a protracted standoff between the shooting party and the demonstrators, police were called to the area. A man in his 50s was detained on suspicion of having a bladed object in his possession.
On Twitter, Packham called the attempts to sabotage the shot “great work” before adding, “Oh dear, what a tragedy, next.”
In a tweet, the Countryside Alliance charged Packham with endorsing the “masked thugs.”
The beginning of the grouse season should be a moment for celebration in our uplands, bringing together rural communities for whom it is so essential both socially and economically, and on many moors shooting on the 12th that was the case, according to a spokeswoman for the Countryside Alliance.
Saboteurs completely disregard other people’s rights and lives.
Regardless of whether someone disagrees with a particular conduct, they have no authority to use their own initiative to enact laws that would make a perfectly legal behaviour illegal.
It is disgusting to see Chris Packham encouraging this band of thugs in masks.
We will raise this with the BBC in the strongest terms possible, saying, “Surely the BBC can’t overlook one of its presenters publicly condoning and promoting illegal behaviour by others.”
‘Lord Ian “Beefy” Botham is among the many grouse shooters going home tonight with an empty bag, as sabs continue their rolling activity across the north of England,’ the Hunt Saboteurs Association wrote on its website.
The location of Botham’s Peak District shoot was discovered just in time. Brave sabs took to the moor to put themselves between the grouse and the cannons as a line of “beaters”—who use flags and whistles to frighten fearful birds toward the guns—was assembling.
The shooters smartly went back to their lodge after comprehensively outmanoeuvring the beaters. After a brief standoff, the entire shooting party withdrew off the moor.
Lord Botham is a well-known advocate for both fishing and game shooting.
The Ashes hero has previously blasted plans to outlaw game shooting and termed it essential to conservation on the moors and the rural economy.
In 2020, he got into an argument with Chris Packham and demanded his firing after accusing the BBC Springwatch presenter of intending to outlaw game shooting.
Lord Botham asserted earlier this week that hunters’ opponents “lack the intellectual and social abilities necessary to persuade.”
He stated in The Telegraph that what makes them even more unfortunate is that they are so full of themselves that they fail to realise that real animal welfare involves making difficult decisions.
The fox they save today might be the one to decapitate twelve chicks tonight, but he won’t consume any of them. The only thing preventing endangered bird species from being destroyed by predators is the gamekeepers.
Because their predators are kept in check, the moors I traverse are teeming with curlews, merlins, short-eared owls, and golden plovers.
The Sun adds that one of the saboteurs who hindered the shooting party on August 19 was a devoted cricket fan, and another member added: “He recognised Beefy immediately.”
“We were amazed to see someone famous; it was a treat for us crusty sabs to meet someone in the public eye — but he was very irritated and didn’t appear delighted to see us,” the reporter said.
shooting grouse in the UK
In the UK, there are primarily two methods for shooting grouse: driven shooting and walked-up, frequently with dogs.
Every year, the season lasts from the Glorious Twelfth on August 12 through December 10.
The red grouse, which is frequently referred to as the “paragon of gamebirds” because of their speed and agility, is hunted through driven grouse shooting.
In driven grouse shooting, birds are flushed by a line of beaters and fly over the shooters, known as the “Guns,” who are seated in a straight line. Partridges, pheasants, and red grouse are “driven.”
Walking over the moorland while flushing birds as they go is known as “walked-up shooting,” and dogs are frequently used to aid locate grouse. Red grouse are “walked-up” fired at.
A £67 million sector, grouse shooting supports the British economy by supporting hundreds of employment.
The money made from grouse shooting helps to support the more than £50 million that England’s moorland owners spend annually on the conservation of endangered species.
Any possible grouse overpopulation is kept under control by the game management.
This management has helped species like the golden plover and the lapwing.
The shoot contributes to the availability of game meat for stores to sell, which is becoming more and more popular in the UK. Additionally, the shoot inspired the British Association for Shooting Conversation to produce limited-edition crisps that are flavoured with grouse and pheasant.
‘When done in accordance with the law, grouse shooting for sport is a legitimate activity and in addition to its significant economic contribution, providing jobs and investment in some of our most remote areas, it can offer important benefits for wildlife and habitat conservation,’ the UK government stated in response to a petition that sought to outlaw driven grouse shooting in 2016.