Little more than an hour ago Ed Hutchings launched a thunderclap to gather support for licensing of driven grouse shooting. Well done Ed!
I look forward to seeing every RSPB social media account signing up to this with enthusiasm.
I wonder how many supporters it will have by the end of the day?
Let one of them be you if you are in favour of licensing of intensive grouse shooting, but also if you want a ban. We are most likely to get a ban by way of licensing, and we are most likely to get licensing if there is also strong support for a ban.
Sign the e-petition in favour of licensing driven grouse shooting – click here.
Add your name to the thunderclap in favour of licensing driven grouse shooting – click here.
Sign the e-petition in favour of banning driven grouse shooting – click here.
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I see last nights Countryfile covered the culling of hares in the Cairngorms. Seemed to me that they managed to minimise the grouse shooting aspects and made it about ticks and excess hare populations. Of course no mention of birds of prey so I will be supporting this thunderclap as our main stream media are not really covering the problems.
I disagree (a bit).
Tom Heap emphasised the ‘irony’ of Gamekeepers killing Hares, a native species, just so that the Estate owners could continue to kill Grouse.
It was the young Gamekeeper, alone, who said the reason Hares were ‘killed in their hundreds and thousands’ was because (a) they competed for heather with the Grouse and (b) they carried ticks which could infect Grouse. The Gamekeeper made the point that the Estate employed (just) five people who could lose their jobs if shooting stopped.
Tom Heap continued to make the point that the Mountain Hare was a much loved species by the general public. He also showed racks and racks of beautiful, snowy, dead Hares…
He also interviewed a conservationist who disputed the Gamekeeper’s claims, and who pointed out that the conservation status of the Mountain Hare was not known.
The programme went on to demonstrate a trial mechanism for estimating the Mountain Hare population for the very first time which (I think) was being supported by the Scottish Government (finding the density of droppings per animal, and then counting droppings).
Obviously, there was a lot about shooting which was left out. Chief among them was the failure to mention any presence of deadly lead in the Hare carcasses destined, according to the programme, for human consumption. That was the chief omission because it was used in the programme as a kind of secondary excuse for the slaughter…
Of course, the programme did not touch on all the other abuses of our environment by the shooting industry, but it was just concentrating on the Mountain Hare, because of this:
https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/699/720/787/?z00m=29887644&redirectID=2562710294
Now over 98,000 signatures!
The main reason that I never watch Countryfile is its extraordinary editorial bias.
I went through a brief phase of not watching Tim but then decided it is better to know what bollocks they are talking. It is not usually the presenters fault their research team seem clueless too. I must admit it does often make my blood pressure rise and I swear at the tele——– my other half has ben known to insist it is turned off!
Well I know what you mean Paul but if it were on, I would fear for the safety of a) my heart and b) my telly!
I suggest you both leave your prejudice at the door and watch the programme.
Or read this:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5324729/Countryfile-viewers-shocked-hares-shot.html
Over the past 2 weeks, the different petitions have gained the following signatures:
Gavin Gamble 997 (approx. 71 per day),
Ed Hutchings 4081 (292 per day),
Jane Griggs 407 (29 per day).
The RSPB has clearly had an impact, and it looks as though many of the people signing for licensing are not signing the petition calling for a ban.
Alan – well, that is probably because some of them already have since those signing for a ban are 20,000 signatures more numerous at the moment. And the geographic spread is very similar – and rather different from those of the pro-shooting e-petition. But if the RSPB really puts its shoulder to the wheel then Ed’s petition could get to the magic 100,000 signatures and a Westminster Hall debate.
Crossing the 100,000 signature threshold does not lead automatically to a Westminster Hall debate – only to the petition being considered for a debate. As the ‘ban grouse shooting’ position has already been debated relatively recently it seems to me that if Hutching’s petition were to get the necessary 100,000 votes it might actually stand a better chance of getting debated than Gamble’s. Once a debate takes place then there is nothing to stop speakers considering the merits of both banning and licensing as means of addressing the problems associated with DGS (just as supporters of DGS will have the right to put forward their arguments – such as they are – against either course of action). For that reason, I’d encourage all readers of this blog to sign both petitions, regardless of whether their preferred course of action is banning or licensing. What’s more, if both petitions score large numbers of signatures this can only help to underline the level of public disquiet over the damaging impacts of grouse moor management practices.
Thunderclap social reach is now over 160,000!
Thunderclap social reach is now 280,000!
Thunderclap social reach now well over 1,000,000
AlanTwo,I would imagine most people who sign the licensing petition are completely unaware of the ban petition.
The gamekeeper filmed came across as someone who was having to control hares (and other predators) for the good of his job and the commercial needs of his boss. This is the argument often used by those with vested interests that in reality, just enjoy the shooting of “stuff” rather than not. BBC then tries to show that there is balanced argument between those just doing their jobs and those that like fluffy bunnies – no?
No mention was made that there are few Golden Eagles seen where Mountain Hare might form part of their staple diet – along with a few Grouse and cynically, removal of the hare could be said to be a legal but far from ethical way of controlling Eagles!