ian botham’s grouse shooting party was stopped by masked hunt saboteurs, leaving the cricket legend in a bind.
lord botham was challenged by the demonstrators while he went shooting with a party of other hunters in the peak district last week.
as the saboteurs prevented ‘beefy’ and his pals’ cars from going and the former all-rounder was spotted disputing with them, the police were summoned.
the trip into snailsden moor, close to penistone, had to be abandoned on tuesday, august 16, as a consequence of the anti-hunt activists’ efforts.
the hunt saboteurs association, a group dedicated to purposefully interfering with and obstructing rural pursuits like trail hunting and grouse shooting, provided the protesters.
‘lord ian “beefy” botham is among the numerous grouse shooters going home tonight with an empty bag, as sabs continue their rolling activity throughout the north of england,’ the organisation bragged on their website.
the location of botham’s peak district filming was discovered just in time. brave sabs went 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 into the guns—was gathering.
the shooters smartly went back to their lodge after they had fully outwitted the beaters. after a brief standoff, the whole shooting group withdrew off the moor.
it further said that it will continue to obstruct hunts, citing one anonymous saboteur as saying: “sabs have been active across the yorkshire dales and peak district since last friday.”
we have prevented hundreds, maybe thousands, of birds from being shot out of the sky and raised awareness of the brutality and environmental damage caused by this antiquated practise.
while some pontificate, we act, and we continue to fight against grouse shooting.
the sun claims a guy in his 50s was detained by south yorkshire police after they responded to a report of a bladed object.
lord botham is a well-known advocate for both fishing and game shooting.
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 hunting.
packham tweeted: “oh my, what a pity, next…” in reaction to the news that “beefy’s” filming had been hampered by the sabs the previous week. more excellent work by @huntsabs.
the ashes legend has previously spoken against moves to outlaw game shooting and termed it essential to the rural economy.
he said to the daily telegraph in 2021: “the opponents of shooting have made a tactical error in believing they could turn the area into fox-hunting mark ii.
with regard to fox hunting, the population preferred to believe that foxes don’t kill innumerable birds day and night, which led to the marie antoinette perspective of the countryside winning the day.
“shooting in games is different. to gather the harvest from the sky, it brings together large groups.
‘for some, shooting is merely a pastime. however, thousands of people depend on it for their living as cab drivers, hotel owners, and gamekeepers.