London: a city divided on the future of grouse shooting

 

Support for intensive grouse shooting, as measured by numbers of signatures on a pro-grouse shooting e-petition, is concentrated in the richer areas of central London, such as Chelsea and Fulham, and is very sparse across the rest of the capital.  In contrast, opposition to driven grouse shooting is spread across the capital’s constituencies, with 60 out of 70 constituencies in favour of a ban (as the numbers stand at the moment).

 

	Signatures supporting a ban of driven grouse shooting	Signatures supporting grouse shooting
Barking	8	0
Battersea	27	255
Beckenham	25	1
Bermondsey and Southwark	43	11
Bethnal Green and Bow	36	7
Bexleyheath and Crayford	25	2
Brent Central	22	5
Brent North	13	1
Brentford and Isleworth	52	15
Bromley and Chislehurst	35	3
Camberwell and Peckham	52	9
Carshalton and Wallington	36	2
Chelsea and Fulham	17	403
Chingford and Woodford Green	27	1
Chipping Barnet	37	4
Cities of London and Westminster	33	219
Croydon Central	37	1
Croydon North	30	0
Croydon South	47	5
Dagenham and Rainham	26	1
Dulwich and West Norwood	53	14
Ealing Central and Acton	48	19
Ealing North	26	1
Ealing Southall	14	1
East Ham	16	1
Edmonton	9	1
Eltham	31	2
Enfield North	30	2
Enfield Southgate	31	1
Erith and Thamesmead	22	0
Feltham and Heston	19	5
Finchley and Golders Green	30	3
Greenwich and Woolwich	41	3
Hackney North and South Newington	63	7
Hackney South and Shoreditch	29	6
Hammersmith	36	138
Hampstead and Kilburn	40	26
Harrow East	21	0
Harrow West	18	1
Hayes and Harrington	7	0
Hendon	20	0
Holborn and St Pancras	64	25
Hornchurch and Upminster	30	3
Hornsey and Wood Green	81	14
Ilford North	15	0
Ilford South	17	1
Islington North	48	8
Islington South and Finsbury	40	34
Kensington	20	247
Kingston and Surbiton	51	5
Lewisham Deptford	64	4
Lewisham East	33	3
Lewisham West and Penge	47	1
Leyton and Wanstead	40	1
Mitcham and Morden	25	0
Old Bexley and Sidcup	27	1
Orpington	46	5
Poplar and Limehouse	26	5
Putney	42	65
Richmond Park	84	39
Romford	29	2
Ruislip Northwood and Pinner	40	4
Streatham	32	43
Sutton and Cheam	30	2
Tooting	40	119
Tottenham	39	0
Twickenham	94	15
Uxbridge and South Ruislip	25	1
Vauxhall	29	63
Walthamstow	45	3
West Ham	21	3
Westminster North	23	56
Wimbledon	59	27
Total	2538	1975

 

Dominic Mitchell, London-based birder and Managing Editor of Birdwatch magazine and BirdGuides.com, says:

‘The negative impacts of driven grouse shooting have become alarmingly clear in recent years, and the end is surely nigh for this archaic pastime of shooting birds for fun and profit. Britain is home to most of the world’s heather moorlands but this unique ecosystem is being permanently damaged through management for shooting. Worse still, many moors have become no-go areas for iconic birds of prey like Hen Harrier and Golden Eagle, both of which have been ruthlessly persecuted on rogue estates. The time has come to ban driven grouse shooting, restore balance in the uplands, and conserve, not kill.‘

To join Dominic Mitchell, please sign Gavin Gamble’s e-petition which calls for a ban on driven grouse shooting.

 

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