Wild Justice and Countryfile

Mark 7 Comments

I wrote a blog for Wild Justice here.

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7 Replies to “Wild Justice and Countryfile”

  1. I watched the programme, in fact I often do although it regularly raises my blood pressure, sometimes because of what it does say more often for what it does not! I thought it reasonable in terms of what was included and what obviously wasn’t. The farmer came across as well meaning but woefully ignorant of both the law and ecology, trotting out the same old crap about songbirds (Songbird Survival or whatever they are called these days have much to answer for!) Gilruth came out with about was expected with no facts or science to back up his wild claims. Is it just me or are GWCT now just a pile of pooh dragged into the effluent by this oaf . The new DEFRA sponsored licences have all the faults of the old, although I would be prepared to accept Magpie as well as Crow on the list if the other corvids and gulls came off. Keep up the fight!

  2. It could have been worse but there were various things that were annoying. I have not re-watched it so I may be wrong but I believe it was suggested that significant numbers of people have had their livelihoods destroyed as a result of the brief period during which the GLs were withdrawn. I would like to have firm evidence provided of a single case in which this occurred and am very sceptical of the claim.
    Likewise the claim that 50% or so of livestock owners claim to have suffered attacks on their livestock struck me as worthy being drilled down into rather than simply presented as a fact to suggest that there is a monstrous problem affecting every livestock keeper – which simply is not the case.
    I thought the farmer withholding his name because of potential threats was melodramatic although to be fair the programme did make clear that there are extremists on the shooting side and that Chris Packham has very definitely received death threats because of his role in this affair.
    The farmer’s claim that the reason that farmers are farmers is because of their love of wildlife was absolute hooey. I am sure that many – but certainly not all – farmers do love wildlife to varying degrees but it is not the reason why most of them are in the profession and many years of wildlife decline in this country have very emphatically demonstrated that where their professed love of nature runs counter to their perceived business needs nature has invariably come off worse.

  3. Studies, we need studies on the corvid ‘problem’. Studies that are comprehensive, thorough, enough to be irrefutable. Studies for which law will survive or die, studies that are THE last word.
    What’s the point of opinion or research that, rightly or wrongly, is pulled apart for being dated, vague or of a small sample. I’m sick and tired that in 2019 there isn’t a national independent body, with a burgeoning budget, producing fastidious data from undeniably comprehensive studies for which we all must stand. No more opinion, no room for political bluster, no spin. The first, final and only word.
    I’m pretty sure of the outcome in this regard, and they can shove that up their farming folklore ass.

  4. It was fairly standard BBC stuff, and seemed to give more emphasis to the “plight” of the farmer than to the illegality and general nature of the licences. Not sure why the interview with the hobby farmer moaning about the loss to his fancy chicken was included? How does that justify killing Crows? The guy then spouted more nonsense about song birds, when clearly its intensive farming practices that have led to their dramatic decline.
    How does the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust justify its name?
    It generally perpetuated the myth that those living and working in the countryside are its guardians, which begs the question as to how they have allowed it to degenerate to the appalling state it is in today?

    2. Over population that is what has happened ,what I cant understand is why do you want to change the countryside, why do you all think us gamekeepers are destroying the land we work on , can I ask why when you towns people come on to our land , through your dog shit bags into the hedges, why cant you all keep your dog under control

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