Sportsmen(?) v wildlife

The people who protest against the culling of cormorants on fisheries have obviously never witnessed the destruction and wanton killing they produce. They spear fish far too large for them to eat, and leave them to die with horrendous injuries. At my local fishery (a small course fishery lake in an inner city environment) the bailiffs will always shoot cormorants, quite rightly so. Anglers protect the waterways of this country, and pay a not an insignificant amount by way of a rod/fishing licence to fish. The vast majority of anglers are conservationists by both inclination and by actions. Don't be subverted by those who know very little about nature or conservation.

Fess up b1, you want to kill birds that hunt to survive so you can fish for fun. Conservationists work with the natural world not bend & pervert it for their own ends👎🏻

Well said, Rocky. There’s a huge difference between conservation and those seeking to manipulate nature for their 'sport'.

"…the bailiffs will always shoot cormorants, quite rightly so." What is right about it? Are we not supposed to be a civilised nation?

I seem to see more cormorants on River Dee in Cheshire and Wales than I ever did and also elsewhere

Firstly Rocky, if the cormorants ate the fish they catch, fair enough. But like foxes, they kill for other reasons other than survival, and leave bodies of dead fish on top of the water. The question as to our "civilised" treatment of animals, next time you pass a butchers shop, or see someone, perhaps even yourself Tinwheeler, tuck into Sunday lunch, please ask yourself how the animals being sold and eaten got to the table? Many lived dreadful lives in inhumane conditions, particularly pigs and chickens, and I doubt if many died of natural causes or old age, and were in fact slaughtered. As a society the majority tolerate this, and enjoy eating meat. So why the double standards? 

Ahhh, my mistake B1, a cormorant not acting like a Human with Human standards deserves to die, I should’ve realised, even though whilst diving to depths they may be guilty of the heinous crime of not having a net or a spear gun or a stun gun to use, just a beak & their own power to survive. 

Well put Rocky.

Double standards, Bazza? Take a step back and look at what you’ve written.

One is humanely slaughtered after being bred in controlled conditions to set standards in order to feed the populace. The other is slaughtered in order to promote and protect a sporting activity after living and doing what nature intended.

One is slaughtered by necessity for food, the other on a whim because it ruins your leisure time and you disapprove of its age old methods. Pah!

There's always going to be conflicting views on conservation issues and valid points have been raised.

After the cormorants became a protected species, we are now seeing the numbers of this sea-bird increasing in such dramatic numbers, that people are now requesting they be culled, whilst still being protected. It's a similar situation with badgers and no-one seems to mind the culling of red deer each season either.

Perhaps if we didn't interfere with nature or cause so much loss and intrusion into their habitats, then these discussions would not take place. 

I have suffered personally from the destruction a pair of cormorants caused in my lake 2 years ago, decimating my stock of Roach & Carp all in under a week, some of which were 30 years old and far too big and heavy for a bird to digest. Living 40 miles from the coast did not deter them either.

I also fish on the Welsh Dee and the decimation in fish stocks is well documented. However, this is not solely down to predation.

I have no desire to harm any creature, nor would I shoot them, but I do wish those who think they know what they're talking about, actually did!

It's time we, as humans, stopped interfering with the natural world and let it take care of itself, after all, there's a much bigger picture going on here and sadly the biggest culprits have not signed up. (What do you expect from a Trump administration?)

I don’t see anything in either the Oxford or Cambridge dictionary about a conservationist is someone killing wildlife to ensure their own collection of wildlife isn’t naturally predated on.

conservation 

 noun

B2 the protection of plants and animals, natural areas, and interesting and important structures and buildings, especially from the damaging effects of human activity:

wildlife conservation

a conservation area

 Conservationist

NOUN

A person who advocates or acts for the protection and preservation of the environment and wildlife.
as modifier ‘conservationist groups’