Wild Red Grouse Management and Welfare Ethics

Driven grouse shooting management raises welfare questions for red grouse and predators controlled to maintain high densities.

Key Facts

Red grouse are managed at artificially high densities on driven grouse moors through heather management and predator control
Hen harriers, peregrines, and other raptors are illegally persecuted on some moors to protect grouse stocks
Legal predator control including trapping and shooting of corvids and foxes is extensive on grouse moors
Grouse disease management includes medicated grit and dosing programmes
Driven grouse shooting is economically important in upland communities but environmentally contested
Rewilding and diversification of grouse moors is proposed as a welfare-positive alternative by some advocates

Welfare Considerations

Red grouse management involves complex welfare trade-offs. High-density management benefits grouse through heather habitat but enables illegal raptor persecution. Medicated dosing reduces disease welfare harm but is dependent on continued management intervention. The welfare costs of the associated illegal raptor persecution are severe and systemic.

What You Can Do

Report suspected raptor persecution to police and RSPCA immediately
Support RSPB Investigations team and Raptor Persecution UK monitoring
Advocate for vicarious liability legislation making landowners legally responsible for wildlife crimes
Support grouse moor reform campaigns working toward sustainable upland management
Donate to Hen Harrier recovery projects and legal upland wildlife conservation