Grouse shooting estate admits ‘legally controlling’ cats after strangled animal was found by runner

Anger after the discovery of snares and a ‘stink pit’ containing a dead cat and fox piles pressure on landowners to end driven grouse shooting, writes Harry Cockburn

Paul Carman photographed the dead cat and fox after his girlfriend had become entangled in a snare while they were out running (Paul Carman)

One of the UK’s top grouse shooting estates has sparked fury after admitting it “legally” kills cats which stray onto its moors.

The 13,500 acre Bolton Abbey Estate, near Skipton in the Yorkshire Dales, said it “legally controls foxes and feral cats”, after a visitor found and photographed a dead cat and fox in an area of the moor containing several snares.

Paul Carman found the dead animals shortly after his girlfriend became entangled in one of the snares while the pair were out running on the moor.