*** Wildlife shot at whilst escaping combine harvesters ***

This is within Cotswold Hunt country and the Gloucestershire badger cull zone (North Cots, zone 9). This is another way in which wildlife are persecuted, which is often not talked about, but has always happened at multiple locations at harvest time.

Basically wild beings use the cover of a crop, in this case oil seed rape, to hide and seek shelter. They think they are safe. The combine harvesters go in to harvest the crop (and we are all complicit here as we all eat food thus harvested) but many animals do die rooted to the spot in fear. Most run or fly out to escape the blades.

The Salperton Estate is a huge shooting concern (David Cameron used to shoot here) and 2 men on quads were observed riding up and down on quad bikes with guns on their laps in order to shoot any foxes that were hiding within the rape, as we were told by one of them. So the choice is to be killed by the combine, or killed by being shot whilst fleeing.

This will happen in many different places as farmers bring in wheat, barley, rape, etc. An added stress on wildlife.

Please just keep an eye out for wildlife at this time of year.