Scots firm selling sick reindeer shooting trips to trophy hunters at Christmas

Publish date: 2024-04-26

A Scots firm has sparked fury by selling sick reindeer shooting hunts as Christmas approaches.

Hendry, Ramsay & Waters is offering trips to slaughter the majestic beasts in Norway. Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes said: “If we needed proof of just how evil trophy hunters are, then this is surely it. We need a ban.”

The hunting firm is run by Vernon Waters in Fife. He refused to comment. Animal rights campaigners have blasted the firm offering hunters the chance to kill reindeer.

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With the festive season now in full swing, Hendry, Ramsay & Waters is advertising the sick “exclusive” ­holidays in Norway to shoot the beautiful animals. The firm does not say how much a trip costs but it is believed to be thousands of pounds.

Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting member and explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes said: “If we needed proof of just how evil trophy hunters really are, then this is surely it. This is the most un-British thing I have ever heard of.

“These cowards are happy to ruin the spirit of Christmas for children everywhere. For a British company to be profiting from this disgrace is beyond appalling. We need a complete ban on this sick industry.”

Animal welfare campaigner and Downton Abbey star Peter Egan added: “Trophy hunters are the lowest of the low but this really takes the biscuit. British trophy hunters are killing defenceless reindeer for kicks. I feel utterly sick to my stomach at the mere thought of it.

“Whatever happened to Christmas cheer and the season of goodwill? The best Christmas present the Government could give us is the ban on hunting trophies they’ve been promising for the last four years.

“Hopefully, this scandal will prompt them to get on with it.”

The Hendry, Ramsay & Waters hunting trips will take place during three weeks in summer. Its website ­scothunt.co.uk says: “Only a few licences are ­available for big males, so this hunt is very exclusive and the season very short.”

The site says “prices on ­application” and even suggests to trophy hunters the best type of rifle with which to kill a reindeer.

It goes on: “We have full ­exclusivity in both the Breheimen and Jotunheimen national parks which holds Europe’s last surviving population of wild reindeer which have been hunted here since the Ice Age. The Jotunheimen national park reopens this year after being closed to all hunting for the past eight years so this untouched ­territory will really be worth a visit.

“The landscape is breathtaking moorland framed with ­mountainous peaks and glaciers reaching 2500 metres above sea level.” Waters, 72, has been “the MD of a sporting agency providing hunting sports globally”, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He has held the role since 2004, the website said. He was at work in the High Street office of Hendry, Ramsay & Waters in Newburgh, Fife, when our reporter visited this week.

Asked if he wanted to comment on the reindeer hunting, he replied, “No, I don’t”, before ­shutting the door. Contacted later by phone, Waters hung up after our reporter introduced himself.

His company claims to be “Scotland’s premier sporting agency” and offers to help British trophy hunters with permits so they can take their rifles through Norway’s airports. The website offers a glimpse of what hunters can expect during the bloodlust trips.

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It says: “At the Breheimen national park, there are two hunting areas. The South East park is our hardest hunting ground and it helps to be in good physical shape as you be hunting in a vast ­wilderness from our base camp in the mountains, and must be prepared to walk five-15km per day, starting with a two-hour trek (good path) to the comfortable log cabin which will be your base for the duration of the hunt.

“The South West hunting area is reached by a boat and is the easier of all hunting areas which includes a cabin in the middle of the reindeer area which is only about one hour easy walking from when you get off the boat. The scenery is simply stunning and really adds to the ambiance of the trip.”

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If the Tories had acted on their 2019 election manifesto promise, any British tourists booking the ­reindeer trips would be blocked from bringing the severed heads back to the UK. But efforts to stop the vile ­practice have stalled. Sir Ranulph demanded the Tories stop ­dithering and get the law passed as soon as possible.

He said: “It’s time the Government got on with the ban they promised to deliver in 2019. British trophy hunters are laughing at the delays and the blocking of the ban.

“They have gleefully carried on shooting lions, elephants, giraffes and hippos for ‘fun’.

This practice has got to stop ­immediately. We need tough action against these barbaric sadists.”

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