Call to ban shooting of grouse.

Byline: NICK LAVIGUEUR [email protected] @grecian9

YORKSHIRE Water has snubbed a call for it to ban grouse shooting on its land around Huddersfield.

Campaign groups 'Ban Bloodsports on Yorkshire's Moors' and the 'League Against Cruel Sports' say the water firm "needs to choose" which hat it's going to wear - wildlife conservation or allowing shooting and animal trapping.

Yorkshire Water is a large landowner in the county and allows grouse shooting on its property at Wessenden Moor near Meltham.

Shooting also takes place on Yorkshire Water premises near Ripponden and Penistone.

Campaigners have said the utility firm leases out 13 sections of moorland for grouse shooting, where tenants are permitted to trap and kill native wildlife - including stoats, weasels, foxes, corvids and mountain hare - to preserve game birds for shooting parties.

They said heather is also burnt to provide for large numbers of red grouse, a practice which causes damage to sensitive peatland habitat and makes it unable to support many breeding bird populations.

They also claimed burning heather contributes to flooding in valleys below grouse moors and increases carbon emissions.

In 2013/14 it completed a large peat and heather restoration project on the moorlands at Wessenden and Marsden Moor.

Luke Steele, spokesperson for Ban Bloodsports on Yorkshire's Moors, said: "If Yorkshire Water wants to be recognised as taking its environmental responsibilities seriously, then ending its grouse shooting leases is the only course of action that will suffice."

Yorkshire Water did not deny any of the claims when asked by the Examiner and said it would be too "confrontational" to ban shooting on its land. A spokesman said: "As one of the region's biggest landowners we take our environmental responsibilities very seriously.

"Shooting is a complex issue which we continue to consider very carefully.

"Our view is that taking a confrontational approach by banning shooting in the areas where we control the shooting rights would have less benefit than working together.

"Our ultimate aim is to ensure that we deliver the best possible environmental outcomes."

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Grouse shooting is allowed at Wessenden Moor near Meltham