John Armitage’s e-petition on licensing of grouse moors has about 6 weeks to run.
In approximately 46 weeks it has achieved a highly commendable 7453 signatures (including my own).
John’s aim was to raise the issue of illegal killing of raptors and suggest some ways in which the businesses and individuals caught breaking wildlife law could suffer greater jeopardy – in other words, to raise the stakes for illegal activity. The idea would be that if grouse moor management was a licensed activity then bad behaviour could lead to withdrawal of your licence – like bad driving can lead to you losing the licensed ability to drive a car.
Over 7000 signatures is a very good showing considering that most people don’t know what a grouse moor is, don’t know much about birds of prey, and wouldn’t come across this e-petition by chance! John’s e-petition has done much better than most – even most e-petitions on much more populist subjects. I suspect john feels rather disappointed in the support that he has received but I think he should feel proud of what he has achieved without any support from wildlife conservation organisations. His example shows how an individual can raise their voice to highlight shameful and unacceptable activity and that is something of which he should be proud.
If the number of signatures reaches 10000 -which will require a further increase in the rate of support – then Defra will at least have to respond to this question. That would be an even greater achievement.
There is not a snowball’s chance in a very hot place that this measure will come into force – but that’s not the point. The point is to raise the issue in a moderate, sensible and constructive way and to send a message that we care.
Please read the e-petition and sign it if you want to send Defra, grouse managers and anyone else who might notice a message that illegal killing of protected wildlife is unacceptable and that more needs to be done to stamp it out. And then, pleae, spread the word and see whether we can reach that 10,000 signatures mark.
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Hope John does not feel disappointed,I have great admiration of his effort.
Dennis – me too!
I am totally against the relentless persecution of Raptors !!
STOP IT !!
Melanie – welcome and thank you!
Thank you , Mark, and also the many readers who have provided support. I also think the objective of such petitions is to demonstrate there is a body of opinion “out there” that is concerned and opposed to certain practices taking place and advocates change. However,that this Government, even in the face of the immense level of support Brian May’s petition relating to badgers received, then chose to completely ignore those concerns, is both worrying and an indication that lobbying approaches might need to change. By contrast, that the RSPB chose to place faith in the Law Commission review, in the hope that the offence of Vicarious Liability would arise, which resulted in something little different to the confused legislation in place previously, was both disappointing and a wasted opportunity.
It’s all been said before, but the Greenest Government Ever claim is little more than a joke in my view. Worst still is that there appears to be a deliberate approach in place to dumb down matters relating to the environment. Sadly I also think we’re facing a lot of apathy when it comes to matters of this sort, even amongst people who are interested in wildlife, which is a matter that needs working on. Mark’s efforts to improve on this situation are utterly commendable and hopefully will reverse such a trend. Having met with the comment all too often in the last year, when approaching people about the petition, ” but it doesn’t make any difference nowadays, does it” then we, too, need to take stock.
Licencing may not be the outcome on this occasion, but I haven’t given up! More to follow! The more immediate challenge is to try and get to 10,000 signatures to get a response ” on the record” which can be referred to on future occasions. If you haven’t yet signed, then please do so. Many thanks.
John – thanks for the petition, I went to sign it and was pleased to discover that I already had! I hope it gets many more signatures.
As for our alleged ‘greenest government ever’ I couldn’t agree more – this claim is comparable to Mrs Thatcher coming to power claiming to be leading the ‘coal miningist government ever’ or Tony Blair winning power on a ticket that promised fewer foreign wars – it is laughable but equally is no laughing matter.
Speaking of campaigning zeal and an issue that’s been raised before on this blog – presumably next year’s funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit won’t have been secured yet, let alone the Unit’s long term future – it may be worth us giving our MPs a nudge on this in the next few weeks?
John,brilliant comment.How could the rspb ignore the e-petition on Vicarious Liability with the excuse that they hoped the law commission would bring it in and ever since then and even now saying they would like V L introduced in England.
How could they miss such a opportunity just because it was a private individuals petition.Shame on them.I am not against the new rspb if that is what the majority want but hope they are not going to ignore things like the plight of B O P while messing about with everything likely to get a few more subs.
Dennis, first of all , thanks for your support. As far as RSPB is concerned, then I’m at a loss for words! “The opportunity” was not ultra political or departing from principles they themselves supported, simply that of attempting to demonstrate, in parallel with whatever else they wished to do, a level of support for a particular idea. The number of signatures would hopefully also demonstrate ( again I have to add ) how many people within the electorate are sick and tired of the ongoing situation with raptor persecution.
In 1979 , when I started work for RSPB, it was one of the major problems needing to be addressed. It hadn’t gone away in 1999 when I took retirement and it’s still with us!! Surely any opportunity to force home the feelings of the electorate should be grasped. We’ll prevail in the end though!
The following research summarised on the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25675002) is of some relevance. The loss of large predators (e.g. lions, pumas etc) has a negative effect on ecosystems (e.g. > grazers and damage to vegetation, effecting birds and small mammals). It also results in negative impacts on human society (> baboons which damage crops).
I wonder if there is any research on the loss of raptors (globally or in the UK) and the effect on human society other than tourism/ enjoyment and excluding the intrinsic value?
Richard
I get the message that the petition is partly sending a message etc.
Surely the answer will be: we have legislation that makes this illegal already so why introduce more legislation.
Jo public might think “licence gamekeepers” so what? There are unlicensed drivers about, when is a gamekeeper not a farm worker?
But the estates … The Gov. is always looking at ways of valuing conservation benefits. However in the case of Grouse moors the law is being broken and we have clear cost of the wildlife crime unit of the police.. Hence the “polluter” should contribute something to this cost say £5,000 £10,000 or a percentage of the value of the estate. Some estates may pay business rates but there are ways round it, if it is family and friends or a syndicate. This would be a simple revenue raising approach to cover a cost.
Why should not we, as the public, make it a requirement that people obtain a license to exploit the natural environment as they have to mine or take water.
I signed this petition ages ago and could not for the life of me understand why people have not signed. However, Andrew reading your final sentence it struck me that a licence system to exploit the country side could be a slippery slope. First grouse moors, then anglers then horror of horror birders! It is already illegal to shoot hen harriers but perhaps we need an upgrade in the ecocriminal hierarchy. To completely eliminate a species from a country should be treated as ecocide, with accordingly much stiffer penalties. Obviously supporting such a crime by shooting on an estate where hen harriers have been shot too should be criminalised as accessory to ecocide.
I can’t for the life of me understand why the RSPB has not gone to it’s considerably large membership, given them the full lowdown on what’s really happening to our birds of prey at the hands of the unscrupulous red grouse moor owners, and asked them to throw their full weight behind this petition? Why is it they seem to be sitting on the fence or even ignoring the problem when it comes to fighting the obvious raptor persecution on the red grouse moor estates.