This new e-petition which mentions grouse shooting is on the UK parliament website – I won’t be signing this one as I think it is badly timed and too broad.
But these two petitions are well worth signing:
An independent study to find if driven grouse shooting is of economic benefit.
[registration_form]
I agree Mark although I personally wish for a full study of the direct and indirect effects of Pheasant and Red legged Partridge release on the environment and native ecology. Then we might be able to support some sensible restrictions, perhaps that is why it has not been done!
Whilst the study into economic benefit proposed by Les Wallace is definitely needed I’m not sure who is to fund it, have I missed that bit?
Should it be Government, should ‘conservation’ fund it – in which case the chances are we’d be accused of bias in reporting? Perhaps a consortium of stakeholders via a crowd funded appeal with a clear Terms of Reference agreed by the interested parties in seeing accurate data analysed, publicised and made available to Government et.al.
In terms of the release of millions of reared birds into the wild, perhaps they need to be rung with their origin identifiable so that insurance companies can claim for any accidents caused by them? Dogs are chipped, so why not ring game birds?