Shoot Monitor Hit With Shot Duck

Animal welfare campaigners reported a Hoghton Tower shoot gamekeeping assistant to police after a shot duck was used to strike a female shoot monitor.

The incident occurred shortly after shoot monitors arrived on the Hoghton Tower estate to film the duck shoot. So many ducks were being killed that the gamekeeper assistant was having trouble retrieving them all.

One shot duck flew over the heads of the monitors before landing in a field. Eventually the gamekeeper's assistant went to retrieve the duck, it was still moving despite being shot some ten minutes earlier.

As he passed the female shoot monitor, who was stood on the footpath, he struck out hitting her with the duck and leaving her coat smeared with its blood.

A spokesperson for North West Animal Welfare said, "The incident was reported to the police who took the coat away as evidence. It's cowardly to strike anyone but to do it with a shoot duck is disgusting and shows their low regard for humans as well as the unfortunate ducks they use as live targets."