Over 92,000 e-actions have been taken since Hen Harrier Day, pressing elected politicians to act on wildlife crime and generally on the ecological problems associated with driven grouse shooting. Thank you – it’s an amazing response and I reckon we can reach 100,000 e-actions in the next four and a half days until the e-action closes in the first minute of September.
Here are the 20 top English constituencies colour-coded by the party (Conservative, Labour or Green) of the sitting MP:
Central Devon, 231 e-actions
Derbyshire Dales, 221 e-actions
High Peak, 220 e-actions
Totnes, 218 e-actions
Sheffield Hallam, 212 e-actions
Coastal Suffolk, 205 e-actions
Skipton and Ripon, 205 e-actions
Brighton Pavilion, 196 e-actions
Bristol West, 194 e-actions
South Cambridgeshire, 193 e-actions
Wells, 192 e-actions
Isle of Wight, 186 e-actions
Torridge and West Devon, 185 e-actions
Somerton and Frome, 184 e-actions
Arundel and South Downs, 179 e-actions
Southeast Cambridgeshire, 179 e-actions
Thirsk and Malton, 178 e-actions
North Devon, 177 e-actions
West Dorset, 177 e-actions
South Norfolk, 177 e-actions
Thank you for such great support from Devon (four constituencies in the top 20), along with Yorkshire and Derbyshire. Calder Valley has dropped out of the top 20 (maybe temporarily). Nice to see the former Environment Minister, Therese Coffey still near the top of this list in her Suffolk Coastal constituency – she did so little when in office to help Hen Harriers that she helped energise her constituents on this subject.
If you have already contacted your elected politician – thank you! You are one of over 92,000 who have done so.
But if you want to give your elected politician a nudge to act for change then please send them a message through this e-action which is a joint campaign by the RSPB, Hen Harrier Action and Wild Justice. Click here to have a look please. Thank you!
[registration_form]
It will be interesting to see Robert Largan’s response, Conservative MP for High Peak. A majority of just 590 at the last election, so this issue could make a difference.
Rob: here’s Robert Largan’s response to one of his constituents:
Thank you for contacting me about controlling the spread of Bovine TB.
I care very deeply about animal welfare and conserving Derbyshire’s wildlife. That is why I strongly support the 2004 Hunting Act, banning fox hunting with hounds.
On the issue of controlling the spread of Bovine TB, I will follow the guidance of the evidence and the experts. The vaccination of badgers against TB using BCG can enable a level of protection that can help limit the spread of TB to healthy badger populations. I am a keen supporter of this programme and I intend to personally take part in a local vaccination effort in the near future. I welcome the Government’s efforts to increase the take-up of the ‘Badger Edge Vaccination Scheme’ (BEVS) and steps to ensure that badger vaccination schemes more generally make a real difference in tackling Bovine TB.
The Government is also speeding up work to improve the cattle testing regime and deploy the cattle vaccine as part of a multi-pronged approach to eradicate the disease by 2038.
Unfortunately, the number of new incidents of TB is not falling in Derbyshire. Both the number of herds under restriction and the number of cattle being slaughtered are rising at an alarming rate. This has a devastating impact on cattle and on a huge number of local farmers.
The fact remains, you cannot vaccinate an infected badger. As a result, following a lengthy consultation and careful assessment of the evidence, a license will be awarded to begin culling infected badger populations in parts of Derbyshire from 7th September.
It is worth noting that the proposed cull area has very little overlap with the areas where badgers have been vaccinated, just 2km². However, I appreciate that this is a deeply emotive issue and I will continue to study the evidence carefully. I sincerely hope that scientific advances will, in the near future, make such culls unnecessary.
Should you have further enquiries on any other matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely,
Robert Largan MP
Member of Parliament for High Peak
Frustratingly, the Govt “Find your MP” website https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP (and variations) does not ‘Find’ my MP but offers me a neighbouring one. I’ve mentioned this to my previous MP and others but to no avail.
Regardless, I’ve written to my new MP on a number of occasions (not least about Hen Harriers and Pheasants to name just a couple of examples) and have yet to receive a response. In defense we have spoken and he explained that he was best placed to decide who and how to approach the issues and to leave it with him ….
That was in May, June and again in July but guess they’re still on holiday while the rest of us have to carry on regardless ….