The motivations behind hunting differ significantly. In the past, hunting was all about necessity—providing essential resources for survival. Today, recreational hunting often takes the spotlight. It’s about sport and thrill, rather than need. One might ask, is it time to question whether such pursuits still have a place in our society?
Hunting undeniably causes suffering to animals. Every bullet, every trap inflicts pain and fear. The lives of countless animals are disrupted. This suffering raises questions—should we not prioritise animal welfare over outdated traditions?
Hunting doesn’t just harm individual animals. It disrupts entire ecosystems. Removing a species can cause imbalances, upsetting the natural order. Overhunting can lead to dwindling biodiversity, leaving lasting damage on our planet. Isn’t it time we step back and reflect on these consequences?
Wildlife photography and ecotourism are booming, offering a peaceful and ethical way to connect with nature. By observing animals in their habitats, we can appreciate their beauty without causing harm. These industries boost the economy while fostering appreciation for our amazing wildlife. Can these alternatives replace the thrill of a hunt?
Adopting a plant-based diet offers a practical alternative to reliance on hunting. By reducing the demand for animal products, we can live more sustainably. Switching to plant-based foods cuts harmful emissions and benefits our health and the environment.
Legislative Changes and Activism
League Against Cruel Sports are the experts on who hunts for what, and why in nearly all cases, it’s done for sport and money, not for keeping numbers under control.
The organisation was founded back in 1924 to ban the hunting of foxes, stags, otters and hares. Founder Ernest Bell was a Cambridge graduate known for his campaigning for both animal and human welfare. Whilst there he joined the RSPCA and became a vegetarian, and spent the rest of his life working for animal rights. The organisation also campaigns against dog fighting, cock-fighting and mink hunting (restoring habitats for water voles is key).
If hunting is a sport, let the animal have a rifle as well and let it fire back at you. Hamza Yassin
Why Pheasant Shoots Cause Flooding
An area the size of London is taken over in England for private grouse shoots, yet this means boggy land (with peat) is flattened, by burning heather to provide breeding habitats. Bogs absorb rain, and therefore land absorbs less rain. Which in turns causes floods.
Pheasants are not native birds, but we have millions of them (along with partridges and quail). They are lovely birds with a croaking call but have no road sense, and lots of them are killed each year, as they are overbred for the pheasant shooting industry.
League Against Cruel Sports is campaigning against caged breeding. Most pheasants raised to be shot for food or ‘sport’ are housed in conditions similar to battery-farmed chickens. Many people who go shooting are not good at it, and so many birds are injured rather than killed outright. Over-breeding also leads to impacts on our ecosystems (they eat sand lizards and baby adders, so over-breeding leads to too many being eaten). Some gamekeepers also set traps to target native predators like foxes and stoats, which in turn can trap hares and badgers (or even domestic dogs).
Another issue often not talked about in political circles is that pheasant shooting is one area linked to an increasing amount of flooding. This is because the land with bogs (peat etc) is flattened, by burning heather to provide breeding habitats. This in turn means the bogs are not able to absorb rain, which turns into floods. But as most pheasant shoots are on private estates, nobody can see. And like hares, there are no closed seasons, so when the adults die, so babies are left to starve.
Learn more in Mark Avery’s book Conflict in the Uplands. Looking at the conflict between grouse shooting and nature conservation, this multi-million pound business dominates the hills of the Pennines, North Yorkshire Moors, Cheviots and Scotland. And backed by powerful lobbyists, to prevent change even though it’s wrecking the hills and impacting habitats of mountain hares and hen harriers. He also details his campaign with Chris Packham to gain support to ban grouse shoooting, which came to light during the devastating floods of 2015, showing how they were all linked.
The Return of the Grey Partridge is the story of how wildlife was restored to an estate in West Sussex, prompted by a collapse in numbers of grey partridges. Following the estate through the seasons of one year, the book shows how fields are divided up with hedgerows and trees, beetle banks are built across fields, and land is manured (rather than fed artificial fertilisers). And much land is returned to pasture.
Yet despite this book educating on good farming methods to restore wildlife, the estate itself only restored habitats for grey pheasants in order to shoot them. Recently a snare trapped a domestic dog.
The Case Against Deer Hunting
League Against Cruel Sports say that not only is hunting deer is particularly unkind. This is because they have no sweat glands, so are exhausted from heatstroke, by the time they are killed. This charity has created sanctuaries where deer have literally ‘leaped over the border into safe territory’ where they are safe from hunters. It also conducts investigations into illegal shoots and hunts.
Some deer hunting in England is still legal by gamekeepers, with meat sold as venison. In Maryland (USA), deer contraception is used to keep numbers in check, but care must be taken not to traumatise deer by rounding them up to do this. More solutions need to be found, to avoid shooting deer.
If the League Against Cruel Sports didn’t exist, I’d have started it myself. Bill Oddie OBE (President)
Why So Slow to Ban Hunting?
From England hunts to trophy hunting imports, one often asks why the law is so slow? It’s often because a tiny percentage of people own most of our land. Taking back our collective power is key, so decisions are not made by a few vested interests. The UK is currently hopefully passing a bill to ban the import of trophy hunting goods, which would go far to protect tigers and other endangered species. There has been uproar among animal welfare groups due to a small group of pro-hunting peers in the House of Lords who have been deliberating time-wasting to delay and almost hijack the Bill, putting it at risk.
