British firm which operates ‘exclusive’ reindeer hunting trips over Christmas holidays blasted as ‘evil’ by Sir Ranulph Fiennes
- Hendry, Ramsay & Waters offers 'exclusive' reindeer hunting trips to Norway
- The Fife-based company even suggests the best type of gun to kill the animal
- Activists say company is 'ruining the Christmas spirit for children around the world'
Animal rights activists accused a British company of 'ruining the Christmas spirit for children around the world' after advertising trophy reindeer hunting trips during the festive season.
Hendry, Ramsay & Waters – run by businessman Vernon Waters – is offering 'exclusive' reindeer hunting trips to the north-eastern part of Norway for three weeks in late summer.
The Fife-based company doesn't say how much a trip costs, but it is in the thousands of pounds and even suggests to trophy hunters the best type of gun to kill a reindeer.
The company's website advertises these trips as available for purchase over the Christmas period, saying: 'There are only a few licenses available for large males so this hunt is very exclusive and the season very short.'
Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes called the company of trophy hunters 'cowards' and 'evil' the mirror: 'This is probably the most un-British thing I've ever heard of. If we needed proof of how bad trophy hunters really are, this is it.
Animal rights activists accused a British company of 'ruining the Christmas spirit for children around the world' after advertising trophy reindeer hunting trips during the holidays (photo: hunters posing with reindeer)
Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes called the company of trophy hunters 'cowards' and 'evil'
Hendry, Ramsay & Waters – run by businessman Vernon Waters – offers 'exclusive' reindeer hunting trips to the north-eastern part of Norway for three weeks in late summer
'These cowards love to ruin the Christmas spirit for children all over the world. How dare they. It is beyond appalling that a British company should profit from this disgrace. We need a complete ban on this sick industry.”
On its website, Hendry, Ramsay & Waters states that it has complete exclusivity in both the Breheimen and Jotunheimen national parks, home to Europe's last remaining population of wild reindeer.
Jotunheimen National Park is set to reopen this year after being closed to all hunting for the past eight years, which it claims means the pristine area will 'really be worth a visit'.
Animal welfare campaigner Peter Egan, who starred in Downton Abbey, said: 'Trophy hunters are the lowest of the low, but this really takes the cake.
'British trophy hunters kill defenseless reindeer for fun. Just thinking about it makes me feel sick to my stomach. What happened to the Christmas spirit and the time of goodwill?
'The best Christmas present the government can give us is the ban on hunting trophies that they have promised for the past four years. Hopefully this scandal will encourage them to continue with it.”
Hendry, Ramsay & Waters claims to be 'Scotland's premier sporting agency' and is even offering to help British trophy hunters with permits so they can take their own guns into Norwegian airports.
The company has been contacted for a response.