Grouse moor managers have been using medicated grit for many years to prevent the natural cyclical population crashes in Red Grouse caused by the parasitic strongyle worm.
This natural regulation of the wild populations was inconvenient for those who seek to produce an artificially high number of birds for so-called ‘sport’ shooting so the use of medicated grit was introduced to prevent these population crashes.
However, aside from the questionable ethical issue of drugging wild birds for ‘sport’, questions have also been raised about the ineffectual regulation and monitoring of its use (see here for a blog I wrote about it way back in 2015).
The drug currently used in medicated grit is Flubendazole, and it’s toxic. So toxic in fact that there is a statutory requirement for grouse moor managers to remove the grit 28 days prior to shooting any Red Grouse to ensure that it doesn’t enter the human food chain. We know from previous enquiries that the UK agency responsible for monitoring this adherence to the law is pathetic, to say the least. We also know that this agency (the Veterinary Medicines Directorate) does not visit grouse moors to test grit piles to determine whether its medicated or not. Nobody’s checking, and the grouse moor managers will know this.
Well all that is about to change. Conservation campaign group Wild Justice has teamed up with the League Against Cruel Sports (Scotland) to fund the development of a novel lab test to detect the presence of Flubendazole on grit samples.
This novel test has now been trialled by the League Against Cruel Sports who collected grit samples from a number of moors across Scotland and their findings suggest widespread mis-use of the drug.
Here is a briefing note that details these findings:
Last week Wild Justice and the League Against Cruel Sports met with officials from the Scottish Government and NatureScot to discuss these findings and to ask for improved regulation.
Officials assured the campaigners that although the approval of medication to dose wild birds is a reserved issue to the Westminster Government, the use of medicated grit will be subject to greater regulation in Scotland under the new Codes of Practice being drawn up to support the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill.
This is an important step. Firstly, I’d heard rumours that some grouse shooting organisations who serve on the grouse moor Code of Practice working group had been trying to exclude the use of medicated grit from scrutiny and regulation. It’s good to hear that it most definitely will be included.
Secondly, it’s worth remembering that any breach of any of the Codes of Practice could result in an estate’s grouse shooting licence being revoked. Now, obviously it will depend on the detail of the Codes of Practice as to what will be deemed to be a code breach – the devil is always in the detail.
But those details should include a requirement for all medicated grit users to provide the regulator (NatureScot) with a copy of their veterinary prescription (currently unsighted); a requirement that the grit is not administered in a way that it can leach into the environment (currently, it can – see above briefing report); a requirement that when the medicated grit is withdrawn it is disposed of as toxic waste (currently, it isn’t); and a provision that allows NatureScot to randomly field test grit samples on grouse moors to ensure the medicated grit has been withdrawn within the statutory time limit (currently, nobody checks). The development of the novel lab test should help facilitate this.
Some of you may have seen an exclusive in The Herald yesterday about this subject – it’s here, but behind a paywall.
Here’s a photo that someone sent to me of the hard copy, where most of the text is visible:
Raptor Persecution UK 
Its not a subject that I am very aware of… but have there been research projects looking into the wider impacts of Flubendazole in the moorland environment?
The release of this toxin into the ecosystem could potentially have a wide range of localised and potentially wider impacts. I guess the most obvious issues will relate to the impacts on the invertebrate community but clearly nothing exists in isolation and there could be less obvious knock on impacts.
It makes me wonder why SEPA are not requiring a licence for this activity?
Is there any requirement or recommendation of the proportion of this stuff in the grit? Is it soluble in rain, so trays may overflow in storm conditions? Should the trays be covered?
Have any of the shooting organisations issued instructions?
“Is there any requirement or recommendation of the proportion of this stuff in the grit?” Yes.
” Is it soluble in rain” It is poorly soluble in water, but rather more soluble in organic solvents.
Leaving the ethical argument about whether it should be used to dose a “wild” population of birds or not aside, I would say that medicated grit is probably the most important thing to happen in grouse shooting since the breech loading shotgun in late 1800s. But the thing that always surprises me when knocking about over a few different keepers beats on a few different moors is the variation in the way it is done. Types of trays vary greatly from plastic seed trays and bespoke trays which still seem to go brittle and break after a years weathering, galvanised trays, bricks, blocks, roof tiles, wooden trays on ground or on fence posts, heaps on upturned sods or heaps straight on the ground. Sometimes you never see a dirty tray covered in droppings, sometimes that is all you see. I personally think that diligence is down to the work ethic and workload of individual keepers. I know it is not popular – hauling bags of grit around on the quad in all weathers when in your heart you really just want to be shooting and trapping things. And as youngsters get older and realise they only have at best 1 in 5 chance of being a HK, the thought of doing the tedious gritting routine for the rest of their days must grate a bit. I have heard too that it is a source of tension between HK and young keepers, the HK not happy when it isn’t done his way. I think many keepers tend to overdo it (i.e. put too many piles of too much grit out in one visit) and then neglect it or not revisit often enough, this happens especially in locations that are hard to get to when ground is too wet. Nobody is checking, other than the HK and maybe sometimes an Agent…but most importantly who checks that the plan they have unilaterally put in place is even legal to begin with, and is the one that is actually implemented? A fee paying licence that covers costs of inspections is needed.
Everyday s a school day I didn’t know grit was medicated how unnatural is that !! putting drugs into the environment is not acceptable it’s bad enough the effluent from fields into rivers so this is awful.
I think the biggest danger, by far, is ending up with these naturally occurring parasitic worms becoming resistant to the medication… because the dosage is so completely haphazard. No one knows how much medication any Red Grouse may ingest, because no one knows how much grit any particular Red Grouse consumes over any period of time.
Some may over-consume, making their flesh hazardous for the food chain. But no one checks. At best, it is left to the honesty and conscientiousness of the keepers to stick to the ‘Regulations’. So we can all sleep happily, then?
Some may under-consume – leading to the potential for drug-resistance.
The GWCT, itself, admits “In reality, grouse moor managers sometimes request, and vets sometimes provide, grit when it is unnecessary, and this inappropriate use escalates the likelihood of worms becoming resistant to the drug and the medication no longer working.”
The Werritty Report stated: “there is some evidence that
prescription levels are too high, that griting holidays are not always observed, and that grit
may not always be withdrawn from grouse at least 28 days before Red Grouse enter the food
chain. At present there is little evidence of a resistance problem with the use of medicated
grit, but there is some evidence that Flubendazole is toxic to aquatic organisms”
Should we wait until there is definitely a resistance problem?