Grouse grouse (From The Northern Echo)

Grouse grouse

9:51am Monday 20th August 2007 in Letters

CORRESPONDENT Norman Wall (HAS, Aug 15) is out of order in his claims that "wild grouse" (I assume red grouse) were made extinct and are now intensively farmed.

Because of their habitat and diet, it has never been possible to artificially rear red grouse and they have never been extinct in the UK. In fact, they are to be found only on our moorland and nowhere else in the world. They remain only because of shooting and culinary interest.

Moorland keepers consequently provide a sustainable diet for birds of prey, which also enjoy sanctuary due to the extreme penalties, rightly imposed, should they not turn their backs on those magnificent creatures.

I do not believe shooting parties to be mindless or trigger happy, and Mr Wall further implies that it is wrong to be wealthy.

I suggest he stands on a vast heather moor with no human in sight on a bleak, wet and windy August day to recommend an alternative source of sustainable employment.

John A Harker, Castleside, Consett, Co Durham.