Pressure from animal rights organisations forces Sporting Shooter & Rifle Shooter to ditch guns and game for the remainder of 2021

The editorial team behind Sporting Shooter and Rifle Shooter magazines have caved in to pressure from animal rights groups and have agreed to swap game meat for tofu, and guns for games consoles, for the remainder of 2021.

A torturous four days of campaigning lead by a relatively new group – Cuddle, don’t Kill – culminated in a petition with no less than 50 signatures arriving in Rifle Shooter editor Paul Austin’s inbox.

“It was the final straw,” said Paul. “We’re under a lot of pressure here with deadlines and furlough, and there’s only so much you can take before you crack.

“Then I thought about it a bit, and I decided that hey, perhaps these people have a point! I mean, I do sometimes look down at a fox I’ve just intercepted on its way to the piglets and wish I could have just given him a cuddle and had a chat about things, maybe reached a solution we’re both content with, instead of all this nasty killing business. I bought a Nerf gun and, so far, that’s keeping me more than content, and it’s a relief not to have to wash mud off my boots every time I want to shoot.

“Plus, I’ve heard tofu is actually quite flavourful if you put enough salt on it, and my partner even offered to cut it into deer shapes for me!”

Over at Sporting Shooter magazine, editor Rebecca Green has gone down the Quorn route, and has purchased a VR hand-set and a hunting video game in a modern, technology-driven response to the new reality the team faces.

Rebecca commented: “I’m really coming round to the idea. Having the VR head-set on is ALMOST as good as being out on an actual game shoot. I guess the only thing missing is bringing the birds home for the pot at the end of it... oh, and I suppose the fresh air, the exercise, the social interaction, and the futile attempts to control my dog. Come the game season, I’m sure I’ll have got used to virtual shooting and I won’t even miss it.

“My spaniel, Monty, is already becoming accustomed to retrieving the bag of Quorn from my partner in the shed where we keep the chest freezer and delivering it to me in the kitchen.”

The experiment will run until the end of 2021. Cuddle not Kill is delighted that the team is working alongside them to reshape the face of shooting as we know it.