http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5387358.stm

As always, be worried about an "independent" report which proves what the people commissioning it want it to prove! :-/

I have to say that I agree with worries about gamekeepers poisoning birds of prey. Foxes I'm not too bothered about - there's plenty of them - but birds of prey are in serious decline and gamekeepers have brought several species to the verge of extinction (red kites for one).

But I'd also take issue with the line "This (wildlife) is a national asset - by what right do people start harvesting this for profit?" Actually this wildlife is as carefully a "farmed" set of animals as any free-range chickens or hill-farm sheep. Pheasants, grouse and deer may not be domesticated, but they're living in environmental conditions which are fully controlled and created by humans, which is something it's too easy to forget. The only important element is ensuring that the take is sustainable - commercial fishing is the prime example of what happens when it isn't. Also in many cases (especially deer), controlled culling is *essential* to keep the population from overfilling their environment.

I'm ambivalent about the "pursuit of the inedible by the unspeakable", but when it comes to hunting game animals then I really hope this doesn't get closed down. Fortunately, whilst this is a minority sport, it's certainly not a small or an underfunded minority sport, and it's difficult to make the same charges of cruelty as for fox-hunting. It's worth remembering too that the results would be immediately evident to many people who don't hunt - if a ban happened, you would never again be able to eat pheasant, pigeon or venison in the UK.

Graham.