Just in case anyone has missed this, yesterday Wild Justice (Mark Avery, Chris Packham & Ruth Tingay) launched a new petition calling for a ban on driven grouse shooting.
The petition was actually submitted six weeks ago but strange goings on at Westminster led to it being inexplicably delayed. By sheer coincidence, it went live yesterday afternoon at the same time as distressing news was emerging about a young golden eagle that had been photographed flying around Deeside in the Cairngorms National Park with an illegal trap clamped to its leg.
This is probably the fifth (I think) petition calling for a ban on driven grouse shooting – Mark Avery has previously raised three, then Gavin Gamble raised another one. This time though, it seems to have struck a chord with the British public. In just 24hrs of going live, the petition has received an incredible 27,000 signatures. People are clearly very very angry.
The speed with which people are signing this petition is sending a strong message all of its own:
We’ve had enough.
If you’d like to support it, please SIGN HERE and then share the petition with others.
Thank you
Raptor Persecution UK 
Over thirty thousand! Wonderful. I simply don’t believe that Marks petition could have got to well over 100k without the support of at least some RSPB members. And I don’t believe this figure could have been achieved in a day without some members support. The (our) RSPB need to understand that they are way behind the curve on this issue. People are angry and can’t understand why the RSPB are being so compliant. And I’m one of them.
New Chair, take note!
Just 17 short of 35,000 as I started to type this. Absolutely incredible! I was a bit pessimistic about a new BDGS petition making new ground although supportive of the idea. This is a different one though, a slightly changed tone and the title is pointing a finger at government plus it’s from Wild Justice with Chris as the petitioner, and of course the timing has proved excellent (if accidental) for very sad reasons. No real doubt it will hit 100,000 plus, question is how quickly and how much higher than 100,000 could it go? 200,000 plus? I think so if the League Against Cruel Sports, the Labour and Green parties, Friends of the Earth, Animal Aid get right behind it and what if the RSPB at least point out the existence of this petition to members. Could there be a domino effect with major organisations now coming out and speaking strongly against DGS? The Labour Party’s Sue Hayman has called for a review of it and been very derogatory about it for the second year running – would they be able to wangle out of giving the petition their full support now? I’m already running through the parliamentary hearing and debate in my mind! Well done Mark, Chris and Ruth!!!
Sadly the RSPB and to some extent the WTs and other NGOs may well be constrained by ‘politics’ and may be afraid of a legal challenge if the campaign. There is also the issue of a risk to their funding as well.
So, it’s down to the inspirational Wild Justice and any ‘extremists’ who read blogs like this and it’s ‘cousins’ to take every opportunity to raise the issues associated with driven grouse shooting with a wider audience. We must ensure that our facts and science are accurate (leave the fiction to their spin bowlers) and spread the word through social media and by contacting all our MPs, those who have sat on the fence need to appreciate that they need to respond and take notice when the issue returns to Westminster to be debated.
Of Westminster, I wonder if ‘they’ will mount a ‘support grouse shooting’ petition? I was always puzzled how and why they were allowed so much time when they failed to achieve the required number of signatories to facilitate a ‘debate’. But that’s water under the bridge and here’s to the community campaign continuing to gain momentum ….
Over 40k clicks now, I hope they keep coming.
Over 41.3K and increasing rapidly.
The RSPB is far too big and tries to hard to cover too much ground, take away the Royal in its title as I feel it tries to be Mister Nice Guy. This does not work when we are up against the owners of grouse moors who not only have loads of money but also political clout. By the way I have signed the petition.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49493632 – Parliament to be suspended?!