The Killing Fields of the West

It's too cold. My car his covered in sparkling frost. I've just been out admiring it when I heard a blood curdling animal scream in the field - something has caught something - I hate that sound, poor beast whatever it was. I heard the same thing in my garden last night in bed, lots of screeching owls & then a high pitched terrorised scream, a little unnerving in the dead of night! But then that's living in the countryside for you.

Last weekend the pheasant shooters were abroad.

I hate them.

6 of them strode into the pasture field like they owned the bloody field (yes, it was bloody by the time they had finished), with their dogs & guns. 3 went off into the woods with the dogs to scare the pheasants out, while the other 3 stood in different positions facing the woods. I have to watch, terrible I know, but I shout at the pheasants to get away - fly towards the cottage as they're not allowed (with good reason) to shoot towards buildings. Some birds took my advice & flew high & towards me, while other's in their panic where shot in mid air to only fall head first onto the wet grass, with feathers flying everywhere. One wasn't totally dead & flapped around for a few minutes, until one of the men stamped on it's head.

It's sick.

And not many end up in the pot. All mostly shot for fun.

Why do you think that birds of prey in this country are trapped & poisoned? Because they kill the game birds & game shooting is big business, millions generated every year. So I say, less game hunting, less birds of prey slaughtered.

There's a pheasant farm just over the road from here. A whole field lined with pens packed with silly, dopey, fat pheasants, who can hardly run or fly. So what kind of sport is that? How easy is it to shoot these birds? As they don't have a fighting chance - they can't get away. It's disgusting. Least with fox hunting the fox had a good chance of getting away, out witting the huntsmen & their hounds. Game birds on the other hand have so brains anyway - so unless they fly high & towards buildings they're finished.

Hmmmm I didn't mean to type about this - not sure where all that came from on this frosty night. Maybe it's because it was last saturday they came & tomorrow is saturday, so will they be back? If they do I'll shout them all to hell, yet again!

Emy x x x