I’m thinking of how to respond to the Defra call for evidence – click here – on gamebird shooting (as readers of my monthly newsblast will know).
I’ve already penned something on the overall death toll of the tens of millions of released birds – click here and another on densities of gamebirds at distances from release pens and their impacts of on native wildlife – click here.
Here are some words on killing of domestic pets by gamekeepers.
It has often been brought to my attention that domestic animals, usually cats, sometimes dogs, have been killed by gamekeepers. This is illegal, as I understand it, and as the RSPCA, Cat Protection and others understand it. But it happens remarkably often although the people affected are often too scared to speak out about these incidents. They are thus, often well-known locally but no-one is prepared to talk about them publicly.
The alleged cases I know most about are from upland grouse-shooting areas of north of England. The gamekeepers who are thought to be responsible are sometimes daring enough to boast about these things in the local pub, or to claim responsibility for them when they are sure that they are speaking to just one person and there is little chance of any corroboration of their words.
There are some examples in a recently published book, Prelude to Murder see https://markavery.info/2026/09/13/sunday-book-review-prelude-to-murder-by-alan-stewart-and-lyndsey-hamilton/ written by a former detective and a journalist which documents the actions of a gamekeeper in Scotland who was, this year, convicted of murdering a local man and who was widely believed to have been responsible for various violent or intimidating behaviours including cat-killing.
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