Hunt Saboteurs stop grouse shoot on Saddleworth Moor

Hunt saboteurs from the North of England have stopped a grouse shoot that was taking place on Saddleworth Moor, between Holmsfirth and Oldham. Today is the first Saturday of the grouse shooting season, one of the most prestigious and expensive days in the shooting calendar, where each customer will pay hundreds of pounds to blast birds out of the sky.

40 saboteurs arrived on the moor just before 10am and, despite the best efforts of the police and the shoot, managed to foil their attempts to shoot for the whole day. Eventually the disgruntled shooters called it a day at about 3pm, hopefully costing the shoot thousands of pounds in the process. The shoot staff were so angry about the loss of business and damage to their reputation that they apparently released two of their own pigeons and shot them out of the sky.

Shooting is not yet illegal In this country but relations were strained between the police and the shoot. The police were angry that the shoot hadn’t informed them that they were closing off the popular Saddleworth Moor on an August Saturday and the shoot were angry that, despite the presence of a helicopter and 8 vehicles, the police didn’t manage to remove the saboteurs.