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Message: <blockquote data-quote="John Cantelo" data-source="post: 3406120" data-attributes="member: 2844"><p>Having just caught up with this thread, I'd like to point out that being anti-lead shot, anti-illegal persecution of raptors, anti-damage to SSSIs, concerned about the intensification of flooding  and wishing to see those individuals protected by their wealth and position brought to book (and denied public subsidy) for their criminality doesn't make you 'anti-shooting'. To suggest as much is tantamount to accepting that the abuses outlined are a necessary part of shooting (they aren't).  The sole reason why driven grouse shooting is an issue subject to very successful online petitions (judged by the success of such campaigns generally) is because the industry has not merely failed to address these problems or simply denied them (although it does do so), but has actively and arrogantly pursued a policy of intensification of illegal persecution.  There is no other explanation for the disappearance of male Hen Harriers in 2015, the continued shooting & poisoning of Red Kites in Yorkshire (and elsewhere) and the telling absence of protected birds of prey across many grouse moors.  In the light of such endemic criminality and the absence of any serious attempt within the grouse shooting community to deal with this illegality (and other abuses) then the only tenable route is an outright ban.  Let's not blame the messenger here, if driven grouse shooting is banned then the blame should fall full square on the industry itself. The sense of entitlement and hubristic arrogance of the shooting/hunting industry blinds them to the reality that whilst they may have the wealth and power, they do not command broader public opinion; the  wind of history is blowing against them.</p></blockquote><p></p>

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