So what made you start the account ‘Ethical carnivore’?
I want to document my journey into sourcing wild meat through hunting it myself and to show others that there is an alternative to conventionally farmed meat.
Where would you like it to go?
I've not really thought about where I want it to go. But I do hope I get people to understand there's alternative diets that might fulfill the moral aspect that stops them from eating conventionally farmed animals. Hunters aren't bloody thirsty psychopaths that the main stream media paints us out to be.
What made you switch from being a vegetarian to promoting hunting?
I had a springer spaniel that I did agility with and I was exploring what his breed was trained to do so started doing gundog training with him for stimulation. I got him to a point where I wondered if he could do it for real... I went on a local hunting club's Facebook page and asked if could tag along with someone whilst they shot and I'd pick up for them. My now friend Tom said I could go with him. I met him at a farm and he told me about the thousands of pounds worth of damage that had been done to the farmers rapeseed.
This made me think, if pest species need to be controlled to protect the farmers investment into his crop, then my diet as a veggie was still resulting in animals being killed. I started to feel like I could eat those animals in good conscience as they were already dying to protect everyone's food supply anyway.
What do you like about hunting and shooting?
I like being able to get outdoors with my dogs to escape society and source wild meat that's not been through a slaughterhouse and wrapped up in plastic. For example, I like that if I miss or do something to spoil the shot, that animal gets to live another day - you don't get that in farming. I don't think anything beats being outdoors and being connected to the entire process of your food. From locating, killing, butchering and eating there's a lot of time and skill goes into every aspect. You don't get that doing your food shopping online.
I don't know if anyone's been proud of doing a Tesco shop.
What do you feel is the biggest misconception around hunting and shooting?
That we are bloody thirsty psychopaths that care nothing for wildlife. My interest in conservation never existed until I got into shooting. It wasn't even something that really passed through my mind. Until shooting the closest I got to conservation was scoffing at another advert begging for money or else some Rhino in Africa will die.
Gamekeepers and foresters were the pioneers of conservation in the 17th & 18th century. Without animals to hunt there's no hunting and we know this. All the most successful conservation projects put a value on what is at risk, weather that's animals, insects or plants.
Without value what other sustainable incentives exist people to conserve? Do you think people would preserve bees if they didn't pollinate our crops or produce honey? You only have to compare people's differing views on bees and wasps to know this statement is true. Bees are widely seen to have value and Wasps are regarded as pointless pests but infact they have almost equal value to our biodiversity.
When you were veggie did you think of animals in a different way?
Not entirely but I definitely have a stronger connection and understanding of wildlife now. I don't wish animals to ever suffer unnecessarily and that's definitely not changed... just where I sit in the process has changed.
Before, I was detached from the process of my food; people were still killing animals in my name when I was Vegetarian. The difference is, I'm now part of the process and I consume the animals I kill to protect crops consumed by everyone including those on plant based diets.
Where would you like to see the food industry go post Brexit?
I'd like to see standards improve to better our environment and animal welfare making the higher standards we already have the minimum standards. I would also like to see more game in the supermarkets. There's loads of great meat not being consumed and it's being sent overseas; Britain seems to have fallen out of love with game, or just not on peoples radars anymore.
What do you think the biggest conservation issue is in the UK?
Human population growth is definitely the biggest threat to the biodiversity of the UK. We are a small nation in the grand scheme of things but we are one of the most densely populated nations on earth and we are still expanding.
This along with affordable housing shortages is putting pressure on councils to give up green belts for building also HS2 is part of our encroachment. Hopefully someone much smarter than I can tell me why another train track from London to the North of England is a good idea in 2020? When we already have transport links in place and meetings can take places in your living own living room Covid19 lock-down as proved that. Traveling to London for a face to face meeting to bring business to the north is a thing of the past.
Where do you see the hunting and shooting industries going?
Times are definitely uncertain we are being pushed from all directions with things like the use of lead and plastic in ammunition and challenges to the General Licenses, releasing of Game birds and grouse shooting as a whole, all this plus animal rights extremism on the rise to top it off.
What I can say is the shooting community has some really creative guys getting more involved producing some great responses to many of these challenges. So you will start seeing the conservation aspect of what we do talked about more.
The Field sports community for a long while have been a group of people that just kept to themselves with their heads down - but not anymore.
END
I hope you have all enjoyed reading something a bit different on my blog and a different perspective on conservation issues! I want to use this space to start exploring different perspectives on environmental issues and conservation (as well as all my ethical consumerism content of course).
Make sure you subscribe to my newsletter to keep in touch and you can follow Ryans journey on Instagram @ethical_carnivore
No comments
Post a Comment