Thursday 23 May 2013

Wildlife Destruction

I just read something that shocked and offended me deeply.
Natural England quote 'Securing a healthy natural environment for people to enjoy, where wildlife is protected and England's landscapes are safeguarded for future generations' on their Twitter profile.
Yet they have 'permitted destruction of up to four nests and the eggs they held'
We are talking about the Buzzard, our most common Bird Of Prey or Raptor as they are also known.
There are around 40,000 breeding pairs of Buzzards in the UK while around 35,000,000 Pheasants are released in the UK each year, specifically to be shot. 
Lets not mince words here, Pheasants are deliberately released for those who take pleasure in killing
them.
Oh I know most end up being eaten, and I'm not trying to be two-faced. I do eat meat,  although I do
try and avoid anything but 'freedom foods' ie meat from an animal which has been treated decently.
I might even support the idea of eating sustainable wild meat, after all I eat fish which is caught
at sea (the wild) so what is the difference?
The difference comes when we have an organisation like Natural England destroying the nests of
a majestic raptor like the Buzzard in order to preserve the rights of a few shooters. Then they have
the nerve to say it was to preserve the Pheasant!
Oh my word! the poor old blessed Pheasant, they look quite funny don't they and males make odd
noises when chatting up the girls! mind you, we probably all did that lads....
anyway I'll quote again 40 THOUSAND pairs of Buzzard and 35 MILLION Pheasants,
35 million new Pheasants bred EACH YEAR that is, for shoots.
The Pheasant isn't native anyway, they should be thousands of miles away in Asia.
I'm far from being a wildlife expert but I care. I think you should care too.
I won't try and preach (much)  but if you DO care then take action.
Tweet, blog,email, write, telephone, join the organisations which do so much fantastic work,
do anything you damn well like (as long as it's legal!)
Just don't sit there in silence and then whinge when it's too late.
There are so many shocking statistics I've read lately about wildlife both at a UK and
worldwide level. 
Also, I do not happen to think we have a right to say which species live with us and
which die. Extinct simply means that a species has gone - forever.
Many will go unless you and me try and do something.
Thanks for reading this.

 

1 comment:

  1. Well said Phil. It's outrageous how two faced this government are. They promised to be the greenest party. Blood red is all I can see.

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