Today marks the first anniversary since the publication of the joint statement to moving away from using lead in shotguns to shoot game. To mark the occasion the organisations and the cartridge manufacturers have issued this joint statement.
In addition to this the Environmental Research Institute has published a report to judge how effectively the sporting community has reduced the use of lead in the past year. As you might have seen reported in newspapers and on TV, of the 180 pheasants they dissected 179 had been killed using lead ammunition.
In its conclusion, the paper’s seven authors note that “some UK shooting and rural organisations have begun to implement educational activities” and they highlight the work of the GWCT and other organisations in doing so. Importantly, they highlight a GWCT survey in which the majority (53%) of those polled said it was time to move away from lead shot. We are keen to understand how attitudes to lead shot are changing, so please complete this quick survey.
The report also highlighted three talks aired at our GAME 2020 conference, which have been viewed a combined 6,800 times on YouTube. We decided to make these talks freely available to the public in order to improve awareness and provide accessible expert information on the topic. The most popular was an important insight from John Gregson of Waitrose, explaining the retailer’s stance on lead shot. There has also been considerable interest in the views of Niels Kanstrup on life without lead shot in Denmark, and Simon West’s talk examining the ballistics of lead and steel.
If you would like to read more on the topic, you can visit our lead ammunition hub.
In order for us to raise awareness, we need to understand the intentions of those whose have the real power to make change – those buying the ammunition. If you can, please complete our short, anonymous survey. It takes less than a minute – but your answer will help inform this hotly debated topic.
Take our survey >