Wildlife Welfare

Wild Red Grouse Welfare

Red grouse on driven shooting estates face welfare considerations from management practices including predator control, medicated grit, and shooting pressure.

Key Facts

Red grouse are managed intensively on driven grouse moors for commercial shooting
Heather burning creates young heather growth that grouse prefer for food
Medicated grit containing anthelmintics controls strongylosis disease burden
Intensive predator control maintains grouse density at artificially high levels
Grouse shot and not retrieved face welfare problems from unrecovered wounds

Welfare Considerations

Red grouse welfare involves trade-offs between management practices that maintain high densities for shooting and the welfare costs of disease management, predator control, and shooting itself. Welfare monitoring of shot and wounded birds is an underexplored welfare priority.

What You Can Do

Engage with the evidence on welfare implications of driven grouse shooting
Support moorland management debates that include animal welfare perspectives
Advocate for welfare standards in shooting that address wounded bird welfare