AN ANTI-bloodsports group has called for Bradford Council to appoint an independent monitoring panel to assess the impact of grouse shooting on Ilkley Moor.

Ban Bloodsports on Ilkley Moor (BBIM) claims the local authority has not maintained conservation records relating to the grouse population since it awarded grouse shooting rights to Bingley Moor Partnership in 2008.

In addition to opposing bloodsports, the group argues that a restricted food supply, history of parasitic worm infections and competition between natural predators and shooting parties, risks a ‘crash’ of the red grouse population on the moor. The species has amber conservation risk status.

BBIM spokesman Luke Steele said: “It is in everybody’s interest the species which inhabit Ilkley Moor are conserved to the best standard available.”

A spokesman for the Council said: “We can confirm that we’ve received the letter and that we’ll be responding in due course.”