Reclaim Our Moors campaigners hear a powerful message of support from Sheffield councillor Minesh Parekh
More than 70 campaigners attended the Reclaim Our Moors protest walk from Redmires Reservoir near Sheffield on Sunday 13th August. The walk took a path through the notorious Moscar Estate, and the crowd heard from speakers including author Bob Berzins, whose book – Snared – chronicles the brutal reality of wildlife crime on grouse shooting estates.
This annual walk began five years ago in response to the ongoing pollution, environmental damage and wildlife persecution in the upland areas, according to one of the campaigners, Clive Swinsco. The protest walk is supported by Unite The Union, the local Labour and Green parties, and campaigning groups including Moorland Monitors and Greenpeace.
Sheffield Labour councillor Minesh Parekh sent an impassioned message of support for the campaigners:
“There is clear scientific and moral consensus that grouse shooting must end immediately. The blood sport, participated in only by the richest of the richest, wreaks havoc on our national environment and causes untold damage to globally significant landscapes.
The UK’s peatlands currently store over 3 billion tonnes of carbon, equivalent to all the forests in the UK, Germany and France combined. That we allow these precious landscapes to be damaged through environmental vandalism to facilitate a blood sport speaks to the feudal hangovers that continue to dominate our political system.
I’m proud to represent a council, Sheffield, that has publicly called for a total ban on moorland burning, and to work alongside Sheffield Hallam MP Olivia Blake, who has led the charge to protect and restore peatlands in her constituency and beyond.
Our peatlands must be restored wholly and rapidly. As private landowners continue to ravage our natural environment it makes clear the limits of our democratic system; we need a community right-to-buy to bring mismanaged land into community hands. We need an immediate end to grouse shooting, and immediate end to burning, and an environment agency that is well-funded and capable of reversing natural decline.
As per the great James Connolly: For our demands most moderate are; we only want the earth.”
You can see more pictures from the event here:
