Urge Yorkshire Water to end game bird shooting on Thornton Moor

Currently, the moor is used for grouse and partridge shooting with birds exploited as feathered targets to be killed for entertainment. The lives of these birds will end with many hitting the ground suffering from painful wounds and injuries, having not been killed outright by the shot. What’s more, native predators, including foxes, stoats and weasels, are cruelly trapped and shot to preserve large numbers of game birds for the guns.

Scientists have concluded that game bird shooting results in considerable environmental harm to fragile moorland ecosystems. Not only are carbon-rich peatlands left vulnerable to erosion when the protective layer of heather is slashed away to provide fresh shoots for game birds to eat. But the release of large numbers of non-native, farmed partridges to supplement grouse numbers results in biodiversity loss when wild birds are driven out by competition and vulnerable lizards, snakes and butterflies are predated.

Yorkshire Water has already halted the burning of peatlands by shooting tenants, but now it’s time for the company to up its game. With the shooting lease for Thornton Moor coming up for renewal imminently the company has the opportunity to bring it to an end. Instead, Wild Moors and the League Against Cruel Sports are calling for Yorkshire Water to restore the moor for nature, climate and enjoyment of local people.

Join us to urge Yorkshire Water to end game bird shooting on Thornton Moor.