An English country girl in California: Live and let live: two sides to wildlife conservation

Can you go hunting and still care about animals? The answer is ‘of course you can’, but it might not be an obvious answer to those opposed to country sports. What they don’t see is that people who go hunting, shooting and fishing not only love animals, but understand them and the countryside in which they live. A huntsman will know exactly how many foxes or coyote are in his patch and how healthy they are, just as a gamekeeper has an intimate knowledge of the songbirds that feed alongside his pheasants. Land managed for sporting purposes benefits everything, with coverts kept to shelter foxes providing habitats for dozens of other species and cover crops for game birds feeding many more avian inhabitants. As Ian Coghill, chairman of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, said in a letter to The Times on April 22nd, shooting estates and gamekeepers provide 'essential habitat and protection for some of our most vulnerable wildlife'. Modern landscapes are seldom truly wild – in the UK, almost every square mile has been managed for centuries for farming, whether by enclosing fields with hedges or by grazing sheep on upland moors. Even in America, where ranches cover thousands of acres, apparently untouched land is carefully managed and animals that prey on farm animals or destroy crops need to be controlled.

A cattle ranch in central California, looking rather like England after a spot of rain

The point is that controlling a wild animal doesn’t mean that the people doing the controlling hate the animal concerned or derive any pleasure from its death. Hunting is natural selection in action - a fit, healthy fox will escape a pack of hounds, whereas one that is old or sick will not. Shooting does not discriminate, and I know several huntsman who have been sickened by the sight of a young, fit vixen dead in her prime from a bullet when she should have lived to run another day. Hunters want to give the animal as quick and clean an end as possible, which, in the case of a fox or a coyote, is a bite to the back of the neck from a hound. Animal-rights campaigners, such as the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) and the RSPCA, asserted during the debate on the hunting ban that the best way to kill a fox was to shoot it, which hunters know usually results in wounding and a long slow death by gangrene. Interestingly, the LACS and RSPCA have recently contradicted their earlier assertion by saying that badgers were being wounded in the UK badger cull because shooting could not guarantee a quick death and, therefore, shooting was not an acceptable method of culling. I’ll refrain from saying: ‘We told you so.’ The badger question, of course, throws up another eternal annoyance – why is one species more worth protecting than another? Badgers feast on ground-nesting birds and hedgehogs, now themselves endangered, yet the badger brigade never seems to care about them. A recent study by Exeter and Southampton Universities has shown that hedgehog numbers are recovering in badger-cull areas, so perhaps the tide will turn at last, if only people will listen.

The real reason many of us go hunting - for the thrill, not bloodlust

Photo credit: Nico Morgan

Anyway, I must not rabbit on about all this – as my mother would say, ‘enough hunting, Ed.’. The reason I bring up this topic is that, in the past few weeks, I took part in two very different, yet equally valuable, activities involving conservation and the natural world. The first was hunting in central California, and while the first day was pretty much blank, we took a wild boar on the second. Numbers of wild boar are burgeoning in the state, as they have two litters of 12-15 piglets a year and few predators. They do enormous damage to the land, rooting up the earth and turning a smooth slope into a quagmire. Many people pay to shoot them, a valuable source of income for ranches, but we were doing it the old-fashioned way with a pack of hounds. No one wants to see them eradicated, but, as with any quarry species, we do need to keep a healthy balance.

Setting off across the windswept moor. California or Cornwall?!

The hunting itself was thrilling – down in a steep-sided wooded valley, a large herd of about 30 wild boar set up a cacophony of grunts and squeals that mingled with the baying of the hounds to echo around the gully. Our horses stood quivering, ears pricked and muscles tensed, and when, for a moment, the herd turned the tables and charged us, spun round and skedaddled a stride or two. They know that boar can be jolly fierce and dangerous and wanted to clear out pronto. But hounds stood their ground and, after crashing around in the undergrowth as we followers strained for a glimpse, succeeded in splitting one away from the herd, which was quickly despatched by the huntsman with a knife. The rest of the herd had vanished, hounds were panting and happy and the horses relaxed again as we exchanged grins of relief and excitement. Every bit of the boar was destined for consumption, distributed among the members of the hunt or sent to a local restaurant. An hour after we had set off, everyone’s freezers were full. It certainly beats a trip to Safeway!

Happy hunters after a successful morning

Back in San Francisco a few days later, BioBlitz was in full swing, another chance for lovers of the countryside and its creatures to get together, but this time more to spectate than participate. A yearly event devoted to scientific study of wildlife and habitat, it is organized by National Geographic and held in a different National Park each year, leading up to the centenary of the National Park Service in 2016. This year, the eighth, it was run in conjunction with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and the Presidio Trust, and was held on Crissy Field on the northern edge of the city. Some 320 scientists, 2,700 school children and 9,000 local people – plus visitors from as far afield as Washington DC – took part, counting species, learning about conservation and exploring the 80,000 acres of the Golden Gate Parks through the eyes of expert scientists and biologists. The emphasis is on highlighting the importance of science in park management, and I’m sure many children, not to mention adults, will have been inspired.

Looking towards San Francisco across Crissy Field,

at the far end of which was the BioBlitz headquarters

I joined the event to take part in a bird inventory. Led by Tori, a ranger who usually works on Alcatraz Island, we had intended to walk all the way to Fort Point and up into the Presidio, counting and recording birds as we went. Sadly, however, the heavens had opened that morning and reduced our initial group of about 20 to only four (two rangers) in about 45 minutes. Being English, I was determined not to let a bit of rain send me back early, but it was hopeless. We could barely see the birds through the murk, and, in any case, there were far fewer out than one might have hoped for on a more salubrious day. We did spot several egrets, a crested heron, a barn swallow and lots of ruddy ducks, but it wasn’t quite the cornucopia we wanted to record. Still, I feel we made an effort!

The length of beach we had intended to explore.

The BioBlitz walk took place in such heavy rain

that my camera never left my pocket!

The day before had been sunny and vastly more congenial, and the event as a whole was a tremendous success. Astonishingly, 80 species new to the Parks were discovered, 15 threatened species documented, and a climbing salamander was seen for the first time in Muir Woods. In all, 2,304 species were inventoried, a number that may rise as scientific analysis of plant matter is carried out. Some 55 nature and environmental groups were represented at the concurrent Biodiversity Festival, from NorCal Bats and the San Francisco Zoo to the Golden Gate AudubonSociety and the Marine Mammal Centre, an impressive testament to the legions of volunteers working to preserve and study the natural wonders of northern California. Every kind of flora and fauna has a group of dedicated enthusiasts devoted to its well-being.

Seagulls and, below, a brown pelican, after which Alcatraz is named

Protected native landscape above Baker Beach,

within the remit of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy

I don’t know how many of the people involved in BioBlitz ever go hunting or shooting, but I like to think I’m not the only one interested in both approaches to wildlife observation and conservation. The conservation aspect may be incidental to hunting, but it is one way in which the sport benefits the land. To hunt is to be a part of the countryside and the ecosystems therein, and although huntsmen may not take a clipboard and binoculars on their excursions, a true countryman will be just as passionate and knowledgeable as a serious birder or marine scientist. All will have the far-seeing gaze that can spot movement three miles away on a far-away hill and share the thrill of seeing a rare bird on the wing or mountain lion slink past. There is nothing better than spending time in the company of a countryman, absorbing their lore, whether it is accompanied by a bird book or a hunting horn. Long may they all continue!