On the day when the Scottish Government’s review of regulation of gamebird hunting across Europe is published (I will blog about this tomorrow – I’ll read it between rugby matches today) it is worth noting that Chris Packham’s e-petition asking for a moratorium on shooting of seriously declining wader species has passed the signature total of the petition in favour of grouse shooting which closed, or ground to a halt, recently.
There really is little evidence that shooting wildlife for fun is particularly popular in this country, despite the claims of a vocal and aggressive number of pro-shooting organisations. When the public is asked, then the evidence suggests that there are many who want to see far better regulation and control of many aspects of shooting. Eventually politicians will have to reform the outdated, antiquated regulation of various aspects of shooting to avoid looking out of touch – it is time to move regulation of shooting from the nineteenth century into the twenty-first century.
Chris’s petition is on 25,352 signatures with about a month still to go.
The pro grouse shooting petition closed on 25,322 signatures despite being widely promoted in shooting magazines and by shooting organisations (by the way, a petition to ban driven grouse shooting received 123,077 signatures).
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At first glance (and based on the evidence from other countries) there may be considerable pressure to introduce considerably more training, regulation and enforcement. It will be interesting to see how the Scottish Government responds.
Scottish Government Environment Minister made reference to it at SRSG conference today, acknowledged there is more regulation at individual level and that there is variability across some countries in how it is regulated. Certainly looks like there is ground to catch up on our European neighbours!
Well said Mark.
In the recent debate about banning driven grouse shooting, a major plank of government argument was the number of jobs created by the activity. This is like defending arson, murder and terrorism because they create jobs for emergency services.