Priorities (Redux)...

The government is considering a crackdown on pheasant shooting in England as part of a consultation on strict new animal welfare laws that would affect shoot organisers.

Animal welfare. I could think of 100 better things to choose before I got to pheasant shooting if animal welfare really was the aim, and I bet you could too, Reader. 

Every year, thousands of people descend on the countryside to shoot pheasants and partridges. Millions of the game birds are released in advance of the shoots. Many are brought over from France as chicks and eggs, and reared by gamekeepers until they are ready to be released for shooting in the autumn. Grouse are wild rather than reared or farmed animals.

I love game, but I’ve never been partial to grouse, no matter where I’ve had it. 

While chickens and other farmed birds have to be looked after to minimum animal welfare standards, these do not apply to game birds. Poultry birds, for example, have minimum space standards for their cages and have to be provided with enrichment, such as perches and items to scratch and peck. Chicken and other poultry farms are subject to regular animal welfare inspections, which are not in place for sites rearing pheasants and partridges.

This is not being driven by concern for the welfare of the birds, but by loathing of the people involved in the sport of course. Because they are, to a man and a woman, The Enemy of English Country Persuits.. 

Claire Bass, the director of campaigns at Humane World for Animals UK, said: “The shooting industry breeds millions of birds on an industrial scale, and these animals have fallen through the cracks of animal welfare law. Confined in barren wire cages for most of their lives, birds suffer stress-related injuries and feather loss and are exposed to blazing summer heat and other weather extremes.”

Dr Ruth Tingay, a co-director of Wild Justice, said: “Putting an end to the rearing and annual release in to the countryside of an estimated 60 million non-native game birds for shooting should be the government’s focus. If they stop that, then the associated welfare issues would also be sorted. Defra needs to stop tinkering around the edges and deal with this head on.”

When any of these people start to address halal and kosher slaughter with the same zeal, I might - might- just start to listen to them on the subject of game ird shooting. But I never will…

Can't Spell, Can't Count...

...that's the 'Mail' for you!

Staff at his restaurant were filmed preparing the fish in a video on social media. But a wildlife campaigner said Stein should be ashamed of himself for cashing in on 'these rare incredible fish'.

A campaigner? Then why the plural in the headline? 

Dominic Dyer, a wildlife campaigner, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: 'Why are fishermen being licensed to catch these incredible fish? Also, what is Rick Stein thinking, promoting the catch of this rare 150kg specimen to feed to tourists in his hugely expensive Padstow restaurant?

'There is no such thing as sustainable management of these rare incredible fish and Rick Stein should be ashamed of himself cashing in on killing them.'

*sighs* No such thing, eh? 

Fishermen were banned from catching bluefin tuna – the most expensive fish in the world – after overfishing of herring and mackerel depleted its food supply and it vanished off Cornwall in the 1950s. But it has now returned, due to rising sea temperatures, and the ban was relaxed in 2021.

Seems there is indeed such a thing! So global warming ain't all bad, is it?

A spokesman for Stein's restaurants said the fish was caught by 'one of ten boats with a licence to catch some of the small quota allowed by the Marine Management Organisation – a quota that's been carefully decided upon following detailed tracking and research of tuna in our waters'.

And the fishermen caught it because it's their job. Just as it's Stein's restaurant staff's job to feed tourists. 

What have you got against employment, Dyer? Was it your 13 years as a civil servant at MAFF that put you off?

Don't Worry, By The Time An NHS Kitchen Has Got Hold Of It...

...it'll be unrecognisable as meat, let alone what type:

...the move has already been blasted by animal rights activists, who are saying the red meat should be ditched for vegetables and tofu.

Dawn Carr, the Director of Vegan Corporate projects at PETA, said: 'Serving vegan meals would also be a long-term cost-effective solution and better for the environment - just what the doctor ordered!'

These people are insane. Insane people always want to force their insane ideas on others, rather than just enjoying them in their own lives, don't they? 

James Aris, a spokesman for the Countryside Alliance said of the scheme: 'Venison is an incredibly sustainable meat and it should be rolled out across the public sector.

'The vast bulk of the UK population consumes meat, so it is only normal that public bodies reflect that with their menus and the food on offer.'

Bring it on! What's the alternative, send it all to landfill? How would that look, when pensioners are starving?