The actor and former Premier League star Vinnie Jones recently seen cosplaying as a gamekeeper in the Netflix series “The Gentlemen“ and cosplaying a rugged country landowner in the reality show “Vinnie Jones in the Country” hopes to transform farm buildings at his West Sussex estate into accommodation for shooting events,
if approved, this development would carve off a section of the South Downs National Park, a vital area of protected countryside in Southern England that features rolling chalk hills, ancient woodlands, river valleys, and dramatic coastal cliffs, and hand it over for the exclusive use of paying shooters. This is not rural regeneration. This is not community benefit. This is the commercialisation of a protected landscape for the sake of bloodsport.
Officials at the local wildlife trust say the plans aren’t very wise – as the site is home to a load of protected barn owls. Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it is illegal "to take [or] harm [their] nests while in use."
An official said: “[We are] concerned that the proposed development would result in disturbance to many of these species, primarily the nesting Barn Owls, both during construction and the proposed year-round occupation by up to 14 clients, with daily visits by caterers, cleaners and other services." Vinnie’s neighbours have also flown off the handle too. One said the plans “feel totally inappropriate for such a rural site" and would “impact the local environment.”
Another justifiably said : “In the UK Barn Owls have experienced significant declines. There would be ongoing and long-term damaging impacts from increased disturbance caused by the buildings and by the yard and buildings being used and occupied, rather than deserted and empty. We consider that the mitigation measures proposed fall very short of protecting this Barn Owl population."
National Parks exist to protect nature, not enable its destruction. Officially designated in 2010, the South Downs is the newest national park in the UK. The campaign for its creation began in the 1920s due to concerns over development and was driven by public interest groups and a growing movement to protect Britain’s countryside for the benefit of the entire nation. It was created to conserve wildlife, preserve landscapes, and provide space for the public to enjoy nature.
These priorities aren’t optional. They are legal duties under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act. Turning farm buildings into luxury lodges to facilitate shooting parties directly contradicts the purposes the National Park was created for. Which however you look at it is not a ‘sporting activity’ at all’…
Outside of acting, Jones, 60 has previously stated that his perfect day would be “to get up early, get the hide out, shoot pigeons all day, bagging 200, then go lamping all night and get half-a-dozen foxes.”
Tory-supporting Jones was brought up by a gamekeeper father, who ran a shoot for 35 years. So perhaps it is no surprise that a lust for shooting and hunting was passed down to him. Jones has said that if he hadn’t become a successful footballer, he, too, would have become a gamekeeper – indeed, when he was 16 he spent a year in the role.
Back in 2017 he told Shooting UK about his childhood in rural Hertfordshire: “My sister and I would go beating [‘beating’ is when a group of people flush out birds such as pheasants towards guns, by making noise, or by beating sticks]. I shot my first pigeon there when I was five years old, sitting with my father in the pigeon hide among the decoys. I saved up
my beating money and bought my gun — a Baikal over-and-under, non-ejector, double trigger. It cost me £169. It was delivered on the Saturday morning and we were going vermin shooting — my first two shots with
it was a right-and-left at foxes.”
The man who was taught to kill birds when he was five then grew up to teach children to inflict similar cruelty on animals. He told the shooting magazine: “Last January I took a young lad of 14 out ferreting. I hadn’t been ferreting in years, but it was my passion when I was that age. This lad had been out once and had one rabbit. So we did it all properly. We put the nets down and I showed him how to do it — we didn’t even dig one hole. We had
16 rabbits in a morning. When I was growing up we’d get 30 to 40 rabbits in a day, but those days are gone.”
He went on to say: “I love pigeon shooting — building the hide, putting the decoys out. It’s the same with rook and crow shooting.”
This is the same man who, in The Gentlemen, is depicted as what The Telegraph describes as “a humble, spiritual, solitary gamekeeper”; a man who nurses an injured crow back to health after she flies into a window. It is, of course, unfathomable how both the show’s director Guy Ritchie and The Telegraph believe that such gamekeepers exist.
After all, in real life they are responsible for the poisoning of birds of prey, as well as the slow death of mammals through snaring, the culling of deer, the rearing of ‘game’ birds for the gun, and the burning of moorland for grouse shooting.
Over the years, Jones has made no secret of his love of killing foxes – again ironic, as his Gentlemen character lovingly shares a home with a fox. In 2002, the actor joined masses of pro-hunting protesters to demonstrate against Labour’s impending Hunting Act legislation, which (kind of) made fox hunting illegal.
The actor previously bragged about his exploits killing foxes, saying: “Lamping is probably my favourite. I’ve spent a lot of money on customising my Land Rover for lamping. If the farmer has a fox problem I love going out and dealing with it for him.”
In 2017, Jones caused nationwide uproar after he apparently tweeted a photo of 100 murdered foxes. The caption that went with the photo said: “a real night lamping foxes – anyone beat this???”
Jones went on to deny the tweet, saying that his account had been hacked, and that he had nothing to do with their callous slaughter.
Jones - real hard man for shooting unarmed sentient beings flying for their lives! Desperate to be seen as a country gent, but falls way short. In reality a total knobhead.
National Parks Are for Wildlife and for Everyone — Not for Shooters and Shooting Lodges. Shooting specially reared birds which displace natural species isn't a sport, it's just an outlet for the bloodlust of a bunch of sick bastards who have too much money. Please sign the following petition. Stop the South Downs Shooting Lodge - Protect the Wild