Recently, the Faroe Islands announced that they will provisionally limit their dolphin hunt to 500 animals. There is no question that this is, of course, wonderful news which has come about in no small part by the campaigning of animal rights activists and the 1.3 million signatures presented to the Faroese government, and we can only hope that in time it stops completely.
I was, as much as the next person, appauled when I first heard of this and would both listen and read of people's disgust. But then it got me thinking of how quickly we are to point the finger without first considering what is happening on our own doorstep and what could be achieved if we were to direct the same attention and energy to what is happening here. Pheasant shooting is a prime example where around 40 million birds are released annually for the sole purpose of blasting them out of the sky. And, then there are red grouse shoots where swathes of moorland are 'managed' for them and where. as a result, such birds as hen harrier struggle year upon year to successfully breed due to persecution. Let's not forget, other than a number of remote Scottish moorlands, moors are man-made. Indeed, the Pennines, up until Mesolithic times were forested.
Perhaps, it's the sight of so many dolphins slaughtered at once with the bay turned red that sickens and infuriates us. I wonder what the impact would be if we were to see a huge pile of pheasant and grouse, accumulated from a year's shooting, Perhaps, then, we'd feel the same outrage. But, then again, dolphins are cuter, right?!
I don't believe in the 'it's tradition' or 'we do it for food' argument for we live in the 21st century where, for the vast majority of us, we have access to shops and so are no longer required to hunt. Let's not beat around the bush, as far as pheasants and grouse are concerned, it's for pleasure. Period! I eat meat (albeit, for environmental and health reasons in a very much reduced quantity) so you could say that I am being hypocritical. At least pheasants and grouse roam free and wild, right? Indeed they do but again, to the detriment of both habitat and species. In an ideal world, we'd all be vegan. Pastures and moor would be rewilded and species would return and thrive. This might sound like a throw-away eutopian comment but the young people of today are far more clued up on the environment and what they put in their mouths than we ever were, and if George Monbiot's book Regenesis is anything to go by, there is no reason why one day this couldn't be the case.
