Guest Blog – Can You Be A Vegetarian Gamekeeper?

I’ve known Damian from Tessleymoor for many years. He’s trained my dogs and in the next year or so will be training another – a working dog this time. That’s because my youngest son wants to become a gamekeeper. He’s already beating on shoots, he has his place to study land management at college and of course, is already thinking about the Spaniel Damian is going to help him train. Nothing unusual about any of this, it’s a good career for a lad who loves being outdoors. The only strange thing is, he’s a vegetarian.

I became a vegetarian when I was a teenager. It was the 1980s and factory farming was at it’s height. I had always loved animals and the more research I did, the more horrified I was about where my meat was coming from. So, aged 15 and knowing no other vegetarians, I made the switch. Now of course, being vegetarian is viewed as lightweight, it’s the vegans that get all the press. Back then, though, it was a tough ask. There were no veggie options when eating out and no-one’s mum had any veggie specialities up their sleeve. It was a hungry time. I stuck with it and didn’t think twice about bringing my own kids up as vegetarians. Now young adults, they have all stuck with it, despite their dad being a meat eater.

Fast forward to the 21st century and thank goodness, farming methods have changed. It is now perfectly possible to source locally farmed meat where the animal has had a good life. So if that’s your thing, eat away but what about country sports? What about killing for pleasure? How do you square that circle when you are a vegetarian on animal welfare grounds?

Making the Countryside Work

The gamekeeping son works on a dairy farm at weekends. He has seen how incredibly hard it is to be a farmer and to make any money from it. He does want to work outside though, he wants a Land Rover and he wants a Spaniel. So he started looking at land management and from there, gamekeeping. We have talked about the ethics of it and this is what we have found. Field sports are part of the countryside economy. Gamekeepers look after their land because it is in regular use. They raise their birds with great care because no-one wants to shoot a skinny peasant. Their dogs have a good life as members of the team, loyal to their owners and stimulated by their work. Every bird is picked up, none are left to suffer if they do not die immediately.

So does my son get teased by the guns for being a vegetarian? Yes, he does but in a very good natured way. They allow him to have his say and they see how hard he works. I think they are delighted to see the younger generation getting an understanding of this country life. He loves to be outdoors for seven hours on a shoot day instead of at home in front of a screen. He can see the birds live on idyllic country estates, not cramped in factory sheds with no natural daylight. If the issue is animal welfare, there really is no issue.

It’s good to have your views challenged and your thoughts provoked. Do I want to eat meat now? No, still no. Do I mind my son applying for his shotgun licence so he can start shooting game? No, I’m really proud of him. He’s considered both sides and made up his mind. So who knows, in a few years, there may be a vegetarian gamekeeper on your shoot day.

Posted: December 17, 2019