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Vermin & Pests
At present our shooters are only able to legally shoot the following:
Our service is offered free of charge but our shooters would like to take some of their kills home. If we are offering a ratting service our shooters will need either a pit or incinerator close by to dispose of the rats. We can shoot woodies either in trees or on the ground but in flight vermin control is not a sensible option for the air gunner. For those web browsers wondering why we shoot the above, they are all on Natural England's' vermin control list as they cause untold damage and cost to farmers crops, woodland, songbirds and the environment. All Shoot-Watch shooters are dedicated to providing a clean kill and where the quarry is injured rather than killed outright all attempts will be made to quickly dispatch the quarry humanely. Rabbits There are around 43 million bunnies resident in the UK and it is estimated that they cause £100 million worth of damage to the British agricultural industry. This is one rabbits are the UK's number one quarry for air gunners. Squirrels Grey squirrels are vermin, they eat baby birds and eggs. They are often culled in conservation areas because they kill trees by gnawing through the bark and making them susceptible to infection and fungus. They lowered the native population of red squirrels by out-competing them for food and space because they are larger and stronger. Corvids The corvid family consists of crows, rooks, jays, ravens and magpies (amongst others) and create damage to wildlife such as songbirds, damage to trees and are just generally noisy and a nuisance. Magpies are well know for their nest robbing antics and scare aware song birds whilst the rooks and crows can peck the eyes out of young lambs and therefore need to be controlled. Pigeons Both wood pigeons and feral pigeons are on the vermin control list. Pigeons not only pose problems in residential areas, farmers also suffer at the hands, or rather beaks of this feathered pest. In the course of a single year, a feral pigeon can eat its way through 64 pounds of food. With an estimated 18 million feral pigeons in Britain, this can pose a serious problem. The Wood Pigeon as doubled in population over the past twenty five years mainly due to increased growth in oil seeds in the UK and cause millions of pounds worth of damage to agricultural business. Brown Rats The common brown rat (Rattus Norvegicus) is a destructive animal pest found in and around towns and farms. These rodents eat and contaminate large amounts of feed, damage structures by their gnawing and burrowing and may spread diseases that affect livestock and people. Nobody likes these creatures and they should not be touched by hand once killed as they can be full of disease. We do have customers come into the shop that shoot shotguns and live round so we may be expanding the pest control to larger species such as foxes if required in the future. |
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