Here is the SGA response, in full.
A Spokesman for The Scottish Gamekeepers Association said: “This is another orchestrated attempt by a group desperately seeking legitimacy to smear legal management activity; an activity, in this case, which has been scientifically proven to provide many benefits for red grouse, black grouse, deer and sheep and to prevent more devastating moorland wildfires like the recent one at Saddleworth, through the creation of vital fire-breaks.“Last week this group made unsubstantiated claims at a party conference about numbers of missing raptors. This week it is an attempt to create an emotive message out of legitimate moorland habitat management carried out by trained people guided by the Muirburn Code. Contrary to this attempt at media manipulation, the most recent published long-term study showed that rotationally burned moors promote the growth of sphagnum moss, essential for peat formation and carbon storage, better than un-burned moors.“Those behind this wrecking ball campaign against grouse moors have only one thing in mind, despite see-through attempts to deny it. They want grouse shooting banned and rural working families on the dole. It is no surprise that this offering is the new tactic.”
