The Countryside is Vital to us All. So are the People who Live in It.
Unless you live in the country you won’t understand why some people like stalking stags, shooting grouse and fishing for salmon. It can look cruel and unkind.
Most of the people who complain about blood sports will happily munch a steak, buy a pound of mince, feed their kids fish fingers. Or fill their faces with high street gutbusting carry-outs that fuel obesity and rob the NHS. Very few are vegans.
Scotland’s rural economy secretary has hailed the value of country sports after the latest figures showed they were worth nearly £200M last year. The Glorious 12 th . Not solely a pursuit for the rich and posh — but an economy that supports thousands of jobs and brings in much needed tourist dollars.
Field sports are a huge draw, with both domestic and foreign audiences enjoying the wealth of world-class opportunities available in Scotland.
No government will shell out cash to country sports in coronavirus times. The Scottish country sports tourism businesses were denied coronavirus funding for a second time recently to the anger of the UK’s largest shooting organisation.
The BASC claimed that country sports businesses are being knocked back from the strategic framework business fund, despite being able to demonstrate closed or significantly modified operations. They say that the list of eligible sports and leisure businesses is ‘too narrow and prescriptive’, which is often leading to support being denied where it is needed.
They have also criticised an apparent ‘exclusion’ in the marine and outdoor tourism restart fund, which is designed to help seasonal businesses with re-start costs leaving them “perplexed”.
BASC strongly condemned the second exclusion in the open letter, adding: “We appreciate that you are contending with a rapidly evolving and extraordinary situation, but you cannot justify leaving country sports tourism businesses in the lurch for an unprecedented second time.
“Country sports play a crucial role in supporting other rural businesses throughout the tourism off-season. Failure to help the country sports tourism sector survive this pandemic will have lasting implications in other sectors. The Scottish Government must urgently intervene to rectify this dire situation.”
Lockdown was extremely challenging, especially the impact it has had on livelihoods, incomes and mental health. Meanwhile, through the challenges many of us were also awakened to the importance of nature in our communities. Birdsong was not being drowned out by traffic noise, while the temporary reduction in pollution allowed verges, birds and bees to thrive.
Among the 11 native species named as being threatened in the Red List of mammals is the hedgehog, which we can all play a part in helping. Others, like the wildcat and red squirrel, have well documented declines.
The Scottish Government had declared the beaver a protected species, but that hasn’t stopped Scottish Natural Heritage issuing licenses for a fifth of all of Scotland’s beavers to be killed. If an animal is endangered, that should not be happening.
Mountain hares are native to Scotland and have been classed as ‘near threatened’ on the Red List. Incredibly though, the Scottish Government allowed the ‘open season’ to begin as usual on August 1, thus allowing this incredible native creature to be killed without any licence at all. Will the hunters be worse off such a ban? I think not.
No fisher will ever take a hen fish again. Even if you were allowed to. They simply aren’t there — because of issues outside our rivers, not because of greedy anglers.
If we want our children and grandchildren to enjoy the wildlife we take for granted, we have to protect mammals, plants and other wildlife needs space to survive.
Those who pursue animals for sport can and do play an important role in protecting our countryside and wildlife for all.
Steve Sampson, Journalist, is former Assistant, Northern and Scottish Editor of The Sun newspaper, and a Director of Trinity Mirror publications. He was a launch presenter of Radio5 Live, founder of First Press Publishing and contributes to the BBC. Based in Scotland, he is an investor/owner across a series of digital initiatives, and a media adviser.
Originally published at https://stevesampsonscotland.com.
