A Murder of crows/the murder of crows

[Catherine]

I agree that farmers need to look after their sheep better. They want to leave them alone in the fields to give birth and raise lambs and they only want to come along and get involved when they want the lamb for something.  I don't know why they don't use dogs and provide some shelter for ewes giving birth. The weather can be quite bad in the early spring and I am sure some lambs are lost because of the cold and wet.

Crows are crucial to a healthy ecosystem. Their role as carrion eaters actually protects vulnerable animals like sheep.
Dead bodies and even afterbirths attract predators and can be a source of bacteria if they are left to rot. Any  healthy sustainable ecosystem has to have a healthy population of predators and carrion eaters.

I can see how the issue is really about money. There is a lot of money to be made from releasing grouse and other birds for paying customers to shoot.  Farmers who release birds are not interested in sustainable ecosystems. I am sure they would rather have a dead area where their released birds can't fit in. They want them all to be killed. 

It does seem rather extreme to make death threats against a conservationist and his family. 
Of course when money is involved people can be unreasonable.