It’s weird how he thinks he’s doing conservation. No mate, hunt-moors are a fucked environment precisely because you lot have made it that way. It’s like a golf course saying ‘look at our pristine biodiverse ecosystem’.
Edit: spelling.
For those that don’t want to give the DM clicks:
Cricket legend Ian Botham has furiously accused ‘self-righteous’ saboteurs of disrupting legal countryside pursuits after masked anti-hunt activists blocked the peer’s grouse shooting party during an hour-long standoff.
‘Beefy’ was part of a legal shoot in Snailsden Moor in the Peak District last week that was ultimately abandoned after saboteurs disrupted the party, sitting down in front of the former all-rounder’s 4×4 as part of a series of actions to disrupt the start of the season.
Police were called to the scene, which saw a lengthy stand-off between the shooting party and the protesters, with one man in his 50s arrested on suspicion of carrying a bladed article.
Lord Botham has now claimed that anti-hunt sabs ‘lack the intellectual and social skills needed to persuade’.
He wrote in The Telegraph: ‘What makes them all the more tragic is that they are so high on their self-righteousness that they cannot see that real animal welfare is about complex choices.
‘The fox they save today may decapitate a dozen chickens tonight – and eat none of them. Equally, the gamekeepers are all that stands in the way of predators devastating rare birdlife.
‘The moors I walk across are abundant with curlews, merlins, short eared owls and golden plover because their predators are controlled.’
The shooting party was eventually abandoned, with one unnamed saboteur telling The Sun: ‘One of our team is a big cricket fan and he recognised Beefy immediately.
‘We were amazed to see someone famous, it was a privilege for us crusty sabs to meet someone in the public eye – but he was very annoyed and didn’t seem pleased to see us.’
The protesters were from the Hunt Saboteurs Association – an organisation that sets out to deliberately disrupt and block countryside activities such as trail hunting and grouse shooting.
On its website the organisation crowed: ‘Lord Ian ‘Beefy’ Botham is amongst the many grouse shooters heading home tonight with an empty bag, as sabs continue their rolling action across the north of England.
‘Botham’s Peak District shoot was located in the nick of time. A line of “beaters” – who use flags and whistles to scare terrified birds towards the guns – was assembling, so brave sabs took to the moor to place themselves between the grouse and the guns.
‘With the beaters completely outmanoeuvered, the shooters wisely returned to their lodge. From here a stand-off ensued, before the entire shooting party retreated off the moor.’
Lord Botham is a well known supporter of game shooting, as well as angling.
The Ashes legend has previously called game shooting vital to the countryside economy and conservation on the moors, and railed against attempts to get it banned.
In 2021 Lord Botham told The Telegraph: ‘The haters of shooting have made a strategic mistake in thinking they could make the sector into fox-hunting Mark II.
‘With fox-hunting, the Marie Antoinette view of the countryside won the day – the public preferring to pretend that foxes don’t slaughter countless birds day and night.
‘Game shooting is different. It pulls together broad communities to bring in the harvest from the skies.
‘For some, shooting is just a hobby. However, for thousands it is their livelihood – as gamekeepers, hoteliers and taxi drivers.’
He was involved in a row with Chris Packham and called for him to be sacked in 2020 after accusing the BBC Springwatch presenter of wanting to ban game shooting.
In response to the news that ‘Beefy’s’ shoot was disrupted by the sabs last week, Packham tweeted: ‘Oh dear, what a shame, next… More top work by @HuntSabs.’
A spokesperson for the Countryside Alliance hit out at the saboteurs, saying: ‘The start of the grouse season should be a time for celebration in our uplands, bringing together rural communities for whom it is so important both socially and economically and for many moors shooting on the 12th that was the case.
‘Saboteurs have a complete disregard for the lives and rights of others.
‘Regardless of whether someone disagrees with an activity, they have no right to take the law into their own hands in order to prevent a perfectly legal pursuit from taking place.
‘It is appalling to see Chris Packham egging this masked group of thugs on.
‘Surely the BBC can’t ignore one of its presenters publicly supporting and encouraging criminal action by others, and this is something that we will be taking up in the strongest possible terms with the Corporation’.
A South Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: ‘Officers were called shortly before 9.30am on Tuesday, August 16 to reports of a protest near Winscar Reservoir in Barnsley.
‘Vehicles were stopped from leaving the location for a period of time. The protest group later dispersed.
‘A man in his fifties was arrested for possession of a bladed article. He remains under investigation.’
I like the bit about it being socially important. Do a pub quiz like every bugger else.
I fail to see what’s appealing about shooting defenceless animals. Just seems like such an odd thing to do. Where’s the sense of achievement from blasting something that’s no threat to you?
And in full disclosure I’m all for hunting. But only under the proviso that you get as many guns as the creature you’re hunting.
Fk anyone who is into or defends fox hunting.
These people wont be happy until we have no wildlife.
The UK is already verging on empty.
Was Botham always this much of a tool? He was a media darling in the 90s, but can’t remember if this side of him was ever shown.
6 comments
It’s weird how he thinks he’s doing conservation. No mate, hunt-moors are a fucked environment precisely because you lot have made it that way. It’s like a golf course saying ‘look at our pristine biodiverse ecosystem’.
Edit: spelling.
For those that don’t want to give the DM clicks:
Cricket legend Ian Botham has furiously accused ‘self-righteous’ saboteurs of disrupting legal countryside pursuits after masked anti-hunt activists blocked the peer’s grouse shooting party during an hour-long standoff.
‘Beefy’ was part of a legal shoot in Snailsden Moor in the Peak District last week that was ultimately abandoned after saboteurs disrupted the party, sitting down in front of the former all-rounder’s 4×4 as part of a series of actions to disrupt the start of the season.
Police were called to the scene, which saw a lengthy stand-off between the shooting party and the protesters, with one man in his 50s arrested on suspicion of carrying a bladed article.
Lord Botham has now claimed that anti-hunt sabs ‘lack the intellectual and social skills needed to persuade’.
He wrote in The Telegraph: ‘What makes them all the more tragic is that they are so high on their self-righteousness that they cannot see that real animal welfare is about complex choices.
‘The fox they save today may decapitate a dozen chickens tonight – and eat none of them. Equally, the gamekeepers are all that stands in the way of predators devastating rare birdlife.
‘The moors I walk across are abundant with curlews, merlins, short eared owls and golden plover because their predators are controlled.’
The shooting party was eventually abandoned, with one unnamed saboteur telling The Sun: ‘One of our team is a big cricket fan and he recognised Beefy immediately.
‘We were amazed to see someone famous, it was a privilege for us crusty sabs to meet someone in the public eye – but he was very annoyed and didn’t seem pleased to see us.’
The protesters were from the Hunt Saboteurs Association – an organisation that sets out to deliberately disrupt and block countryside activities such as trail hunting and grouse shooting.
On its website the organisation crowed: ‘Lord Ian ‘Beefy’ Botham is amongst the many grouse shooters heading home tonight with an empty bag, as sabs continue their rolling action across the north of England.
‘Botham’s Peak District shoot was located in the nick of time. A line of “beaters” – who use flags and whistles to scare terrified birds towards the guns – was assembling, so brave sabs took to the moor to place themselves between the grouse and the guns.
‘With the beaters completely outmanoeuvered, the shooters wisely returned to their lodge. From here a stand-off ensued, before the entire shooting party retreated off the moor.’
Lord Botham is a well known supporter of game shooting, as well as angling.
The Ashes legend has previously called game shooting vital to the countryside economy and conservation on the moors, and railed against attempts to get it banned.
In 2021 Lord Botham told The Telegraph: ‘The haters of shooting have made a strategic mistake in thinking they could make the sector into fox-hunting Mark II.
‘With fox-hunting, the Marie Antoinette view of the countryside won the day – the public preferring to pretend that foxes don’t slaughter countless birds day and night.
‘Game shooting is different. It pulls together broad communities to bring in the harvest from the skies.
‘For some, shooting is just a hobby. However, for thousands it is their livelihood – as gamekeepers, hoteliers and taxi drivers.’
He was involved in a row with Chris Packham and called for him to be sacked in 2020 after accusing the BBC Springwatch presenter of wanting to ban game shooting.
In response to the news that ‘Beefy’s’ shoot was disrupted by the sabs last week, Packham tweeted: ‘Oh dear, what a shame, next… More top work by @HuntSabs.’
A spokesperson for the Countryside Alliance hit out at the saboteurs, saying: ‘The start of the grouse season should be a time for celebration in our uplands, bringing together rural communities for whom it is so important both socially and economically and for many moors shooting on the 12th that was the case.
‘Saboteurs have a complete disregard for the lives and rights of others.
‘Regardless of whether someone disagrees with an activity, they have no right to take the law into their own hands in order to prevent a perfectly legal pursuit from taking place.
‘It is appalling to see Chris Packham egging this masked group of thugs on.
‘Surely the BBC can’t ignore one of its presenters publicly supporting and encouraging criminal action by others, and this is something that we will be taking up in the strongest possible terms with the Corporation’.
A South Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: ‘Officers were called shortly before 9.30am on Tuesday, August 16 to reports of a protest near Winscar Reservoir in Barnsley.
‘Vehicles were stopped from leaving the location for a period of time. The protest group later dispersed.
‘A man in his fifties was arrested for possession of a bladed article. He remains under investigation.’
I like the bit about it being socially important. Do a pub quiz like every bugger else.
I fail to see what’s appealing about shooting defenceless animals. Just seems like such an odd thing to do. Where’s the sense of achievement from blasting something that’s no threat to you?
And in full disclosure I’m all for hunting. But only under the proviso that you get as many guns as the creature you’re hunting.
Fk anyone who is into or defends fox hunting.
These people wont be happy until we have no wildlife.
The UK is already verging on empty.
Was Botham always this much of a tool? He was a media darling in the 90s, but can’t remember if this side of him was ever shown.