You rightly described Patrick Bateson and Elizabeth Bradshaw’s report on deer
hunting as “the first step for the science of the hunted”. But your conditional
agreement with the hunts’ position—that the ban inflicted by the National
Trust may be precipitate—is based on the wrong reasoning (Editorial, 19
April, p 3).
Bateson’s report has not been subjected to peer review, and his data have not
yet been published. Questions have been raised by other scientists regarding
both the methodology of the blood sampling, and some of the assumptions, which
appear to be subjective, if not downright anthropomorphic, rather than based
solely on the data obtained. The reference to Bambi’s mother in the foreword
sets the tone and is, incidentally, inaccurate as she was shot—not
hunted.
Bateson’s conclusions about the welfare of the hunted deer fly in the face of
knowledgeable observations by those who see the deer at close quarters, during
the hunt and often days and weeks later. His report acknowledges that a ban
would “disorganise the management of red deer” and that “an increase in
indiscriminate shooting might increase the proportion of injured deer and also
reduce the overall red deer population on the Quantocks”.
Urgent peer review of the data and the conclusions drawn may show
that the stress incurred is not excessive, and that the overall management and
welfare of the deer herds of Exmoor is well served by hunting. It is no
coincidence that Exmoor is the only place in England which hosts a large and
healthy herd of red deer.
Advertisement
If further study reveals that stress does equal suffering, the moral
considerations go way beyond hunting and would have serious implications for all
our interactions with animals.
Robin Hanbury-Tenison
London
British Field Sports Society
Bateson concludes that hunting causes “the animal to experience conditions
far outside the normal limits for the species”, so far as stress is
concerned.
But is that so? Polygamous stags are probably also severely stressed during
the autumn rutting season, when for several weeks they spend a lot of time
trying to round up hinds for their harems and vigorously defending them against
all comers. Challenging rivals by roaring at them, they lock antlers with
potential seducers, and often inflict quite serious injuries.
During the rut the stags stop feeding, and they are emaciated and quite
exhausted by the time they have finished mating. And a defeated harem holder
often goes into a decline and dies during the winter, probably at least in part
from stress experienced in the rut.
The condition of rutting stags is of course within the normal experience of
the species, but it was not dealt with in the Bateson report.
Charles Goodhart
University of Cambridge
Bateson and Bradshaw reply to their critics in this week’s Forum, p
51—Ed
