Grouse shooting estate admits ‘legally controlling’ cats after strangled animal was found by runner

One of the UK’s top grouse shooting estates has sparked fury after admitting it “legally” kills cats which stray onto its moors.

The 13,500 acre Bolton Abbey Estate, near Skipton in the Yorkshire Dales, said it “legally controls foxes and feral cats”, after a visitor found and photographed a dead cat and fox in an area of the moor containing several snares.

Paul Carman found the dead animals shortly after his girlfriend became entangled in one of the snares while the pair were out running on the moor.

Mr Carman said the snares were set around a “stink pit, which is a pile of rotting animals used to lure foxes into the contraptions”.

“It was extremely distressing to find a dead cat and fox piled up next to snares when fell-running on Bolton Abbey Estate. As a regular visitor, this is not what I expected to encounter when at the popular beauty spot.

“Bolton Abbey never replied to my email asking about what I found on the estate. They need to acknowledge the strong public opposition to this practice by banning grouse shooting to prevent this from ever happening again.”

He added: “North Yorkshire Police did a great job of responding when I reported it to them, but sadly when they arrived to investigate further the cat, fox and snares had been removed.”

Speaking to Yorkshire Live, Mr Carman, who has not been involved in campaigns to stop hunting before, said: “I just don’t like the hypocrisy of advertising the amazing wildlife they have on the website and then behind the scenes they have left a strangled fox and a cat.

"Just because it’s legal doesn’t make it morally right."

Mr Carman said he believed the cat was a domestic one as it was “well fed” and in “good condition”.

But this is disputed by the estate, who said they believe it was a feral animal.

Feral cats are domesticated cats which have reverted to living in the wild away from humans. There are estimated to be over a million in the UK, which pose a threat to the natural world.

The owner of Bolton Abbey Estate, the Duke of Devonshire, has already ended grouse shooting on his other estate at Chatsworth House, in Derbyshire, reportedly due to concerns from visitors about the impact on wildlife.

Conservationists are calling for an end to grouse shooting at Bolton Abbey Estate. The estate told the Guardian in August it had taken a decision to not host any grouse shooting at all last season.

Luke Steele, a spokesperson for Ban Bloodsports on Yorkshire’s Moors, said: “Visitors to the Bolton Abbey estate will no doubt be shocked to learn that the popular beauty spot is littered with snares and traps, aimed at boosting the numbers of red grouse available for shooting by killing cats and foxes.

“With grouse shooting put on pause at Bolton Abbey last season, we’re urging the Duke of Devonshire to now do the right thing by making this decision permanent. It is clear that the public expects nothing less.”

A spokesperson for Bolton Abbey Estate insisted the legally set snares were designed to protect other bird species on the moor including peregrine falcons and merlins, and did not mention grouse.

They said: “Much of the Bolton Abbey Estate sits within the North Pennine Moors Special Protection Area (SPA). SPAs are selected by central government in conjunction with the Joint Nature Conservation Committee to protect one or more rare, threatened or vulnerable bird species. In this instance these include the golden plover, hen harrier, merlin and peregrine falcon.

“A key aim of the SPA is to restrict the predation of and disturbance to breeding birds caused by native and non-native predators. To support this aim, we legally control foxes and feral cats within the SPA.

“The snares used on the Bolton Abbey Estate are legal and operated by trained staff under a code of best practice, which is endorsed by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust. The products used are code compliant and exceed legal requirements. They have a ‘break away’ design that allows larger non-target species to break free. All snares on the estate are set in discreet locations away from public footpaths and private dwellings.”

The calls for an end to driven grouse shooting come amid heightened awareness of many of the associated environmental impacts of the UK’s grouse moors.

Heather is burnt on moorland as it stimulates the growth of green shoots, which grouse eat. However, the burning is devastating for biodiversity, killing various other plants and preventing the landscape from returning to woodland.

The process can increase surface water runoff, which leads to flooding, and drags nutrients out of the soil. In some areas heather grows over peat, which is a vital store of carbon, but can release huge amounts of the greenhouse gas if it dries out or catches alight. Burning heather has recently been banned on peat bogs, but is still widespread across other areas.

Conservationists have previously highlighted the huge toll grouse shooting is taking on the natural world, with “hundreds of thousands of animals” including foxes, weasels and stoats being legally killed by gamekeepers in the UK to protect grouse, so paying customers can shoot them.