The Shooting Times published an article in February where a regular columnist wrote about going out one day in January and shooting 10 species in a day – the ‘Perfect Ten’.
Wild Justice reported this activity to DEFRA (see this Wild Justice blog) and have updated the situation (see this Wild Justice blog) with the remarkable news that the columnist has told Essex Police that some of the article, in fact the very pieces of the article that Essex Police were keen to discuss, was made up, false, not true, just a story, fictional, and that the Jay and Carrion Crow which made up two of the Perfect 10 were pulled out of the freezer rather than shot in the wild on that day.
Wild Justice has asked the Shooting Times for a detailed correction – see this Wild Justice blog. Who could have thought that what one reads in the Shooting Times might not be completely accurate?
Presumably the correction when it comes will re-name the article as the Imperfect Eight?
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is he just some sick ****** or what?
So in order to get themselves out of hot water, legally, they decided that being seen as simply being pathetic poseurs was the better alternative. That is shooting for you, they are all either criminals or liars.
Indeed Criminal or liar or perhaps even both. Ought to cost him his job at ST.
Paul – a self-confessed teller of deliberate untruths, but who knows what the courts would have made of any case that might have been brought to them.
It’s amazing that you can get away with something like this by confessing that you lie to people. I take it he had all the relevant logs of when, where and why the frozen birds were killed as per the licence rules?
For what it’s worth, I grew up reading shooting magazines and being told that ‘pest’ control was a worthy activity that didn’t need any justification. Stories like this are very influential on young minds at a time when their ideas about social responsibility are being formed and in my opinion you’re correct to remind them of the code of practice. Perhaps the Shooting Times found a foot in that freezer too though because I think they’ve shot themselves in that here. They might be sniggering up their sleeves at getting away with this one but it’s more damaging to their reputation than they think. They’ve lost credibility and have been shown to promote illegal activity. Most of their readers won’t mind either I’m sure but this example will haunt them for quite some time. Perhaps some memes of the perfect 10 frozen supermarket ready meals are in order?
Dave – we don’t know what Shooting Times knew at the time of publication – this all may be news to them. Wild Justice is happy to have helped them in this case.
Five quid says they knew enough to know they didn’t want to know and asked no questions in case they started knowing what they didn’t want to know. There is none so blind as them who will not see, and so on.
I’d like to know the full list of contents of his freezer!
The perfect 10?? or more
Perhaps the police should have searched it as part of their enquiries, maybe they did who knows.
We, the public, should know. Police transparency is something that is greatly needed in the UK.
Forty eight years a Shooting Times subscriber, this has been a traumatic week for me.
I keep turning over in my head all the writings from the great contributors of the past- Colin Willock, BB, Alan Savory,
F. Spottiswoode etc and wonder, just wonder.
Just who can you believe anymore ?, i dont know where to go from here.
Well, you can’t believe the Shooting Times can you?
I suggest that’s a good place to start.