Just when the grouse shooters thought that things might get a bit quieter for them, another e-petition related to grouse shooting emerges that is bound to get a lot of support.
This one is directed at the SNH Director of Policy and Advice, Ron Macdonald, and asks SNH to protect Mountain Hares from widespread unregulated culls by the mis-managers of driven grouse moors. The e-petition is on the 38 Degrees site right here.
I’ll be signing it as soon as this post goes live and I’d ask you to do the same. As with other e-petitions, it is part of the background chatter that keeps nagging away at politicians and reminding them that although they may spend a lot of time talking to the people who own the countryside, there are a lot more people out here who pay for it, care about it and its wildlife (and, incidentally, its people) and who have votes to deploy in May and ever afterwards.
Links to previous coverage of this issue: by me (here), the Cairngorms National Park view, the SNH press release, the GWCT who see this species as ‘part of the sporting interest’, the GWCT again, and the story by Rob Edwards that helped to start things rolling.
Here is the link to the e-petition on Mountain Hares (in Scotland) and here is our e-petition on driven grouse shooting in England.
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Well there is a big problem,yes I would like to sign the Mountain Hare petition but it appears that then they will email me about loads of subjects that they think I should back.
Yes, I have the same feeling. I no longer sign petitions on this website because of their unrelenting “spam” emails… Shame really.
I’m sorry but if you think that’s ‘a big problem’ I don’t think you’ve been paying attention!
“This one is directed at Ron MacDonald?” *snigger*
I’ll sign too then.
As well as signing the one directed at Colonel Sanders.
But I will stop short (if you don’t mind) of signing the e-petition directed at Uncle Ben.
Sympathise with you Dennis. How about setting up a web based email account [e.g. gmail or Hotmail] specifically for this type of thing – also useful if you buy on-line as you always gets loads of advertising afterwards. Then you can just delete all these emails occasionally. This is what I do and it works for me.
Hope everyone will sign this petition – as a cause it stands on its own but it will also give moral support to the Hen Harrier petition.
Exactly what are regulated culls? Regulated by whom? Not the RSPB? And definitely the NAZI RSPCA?
I signed…… Yes they will now contact me about other things – which go into spam, and I delete in bulk.
I saw some mountain hares in Scotland last year, superb animals, and to end in a ‘stink pit’ is just sick!
You can simply unsubscribe when you receive the first email
I signed. You get used to ignoring/deleting a bit of spam in your in-box, think it comes with the territory these days.
I have signed and I will put up with some spam. The hares are too important to worry about some unwanted e-mails.
If (unlike Doug Mack Dodds) you can resist the snigger, you could just write to Ron. Sure he’ll be flippin’ pleased to reply.
Don’t let unwanted emails from 38 degrees put you off from signing this petition. All you need to do is click on unsubscribe, as soon as you get one.
One of the arguments put forward, and I’m sure many MPs would believe this, is that simply clicking on a petition is too easy, it does not really show commitment to a cause or idea. If you are not prepared to put up with a few emails as a consequence of adding your signature I do not think you have any real commitment to the idea anyway, so probably better that you don’t sign.
I find that the 38 degrees emails are pretty much tailored to my interests. Some of them are (sorry Mark) even more fundamental to the way we live and are governed than grouse moor management. Not that I’m not known for badgering g friends and acquaintances about management of the countryside I general and grouse moors in particular.
I am sure that we all deal with so many petitions each day and resulting spam can annoy, but surely the important issue here are the hares. This concern should far outweigh our minor irritations.
Do not think any comments criticising my commitment are necessary,the point is that 38 degrees could just as easily allow anyone to commit to accepting these spam emails as anyone signing being forced to receive them.
I certainly do not support all their causes and why should they force me to unsubscribe and label me as a follower until I do.
There is a principle here even if some cannot see it.
Surely someone from 38 degrees reads such comments and could change the way they work.
I know from criticism of other organisations this puts people off.
For your interest – the initiator of this petition, Rodney Hale MSc, is Founder/Chairman of South West Action For Hares, Recorder of Mammals, Devonshire Association, and is doing excellent work for the hares in the SW of England and elsewhere.
This includes a feasibility study on detection of leverets and other wildlife in silage fields, using drone- mounted thermal imaging cameras.
The web site, in process of development, is at: http://www.actionforhares.org.uk
I am the Technical Liaison Officer for the Hare Preservation Trust, which covers brown, mountain and Irish hares. I am currently engaged in an approach to all parties involved with the Scottish mountain hares as regards the slaughter of those animals, for which there has been a massive decline of 43 per cent in sightings between 1995 and 2012. Please contact me via [email protected] Thank you.