SPORTING shoots provide a vital lifeline to deprived areas of rural Wales, according to a new independent study. It found country sports enthusiasts will be heading to the Welsh countryside in record numbers when the new pheasant shooting season gets under way on October 1. Over the next year shoots will inject an estimated £73m into the economy of rural Wales, reports economic consultants Pacec. Its research was commissioned by the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) and the Countryside Alliance. The study revealed Welsh shoots provided the equivalent of 2,600 jobs and play a major role in conserving the countryside. Around 600,000 gun days are spent in Wales each year at 2,700 shoot providers. Farmers and estate staff spend £9.6m annually managing wildlife and providing suitable habitats for shooting, according to Pacec. BASC's regional director for Wales, Glyn Cook, said this money was the equivalent of 340 full-time conservation jobs, more than half the total number of staff employed by the Countryside Council for Wales. | 
