FROM WILD JUSTICE IN THEIR ATTEMPT TO BAN DRIVEN GROUSE SHOOTING

Good morning! In the last few days our petition - click here - to ban driven grouse shooting has passed 50,000 signatures and now stands a little below 52,000 signatures. Thank you! There are just under four more months to go until the petition closes on 22 May. Today's newsletter introduces you to some of the facts about raptor persecution - the crime that underpins the hobby of driven grouse shooting. We've produced blogs on Golden Eagles, Peregrine Falcons and Hen Harriers which spell out the scale of the killing. The grouse shooting industry is out of control and it's had plenty of chances to reform but has failed miserably. Each of today's new blogs documents population impacts at a landscape scale in areas where grouse moors predominate. Go to the grouse moors of eastern Scotland and you will find few Golden Eagles, few Hen Harriers and few Peregrine Falcons, and all three species have low breeding success on grouse moors. The same is true in northern England too (where Golden Eagles are absent). And these three species are simply the best studied - a range of other raptors, mammals and other birds are illegally killed on grouse moors. We'll be bringing you examples of the horrific crimes against wildlife carried out on grouse moors as our campaign builds. See what you think by reading our blogs on Golden Eagles - click here, Peregrine Falcons - click here, and Hen Harriers - click here. Here, as a reminder, are four blogs we posted last week. What driven grouse shooting is - and why we want it banned: read this blog for a simple introduction to the issues - click here. Our petition is flying: last week's standing of constituencies across the UK and how many signatures they have provided - click here. We'll update this blog every now and again but as of today it's almost a week out of date! Why doesn't the RSPB actively support this petition?: thank you to all who have contacted the RSPB and told us what they said to you. We're in discussion with the RSPB and it's best that they explain their position to you, particularly if you are an RSPB member. The RSPB has produced an excellent video explaining the range of problems with driven grouse shooting - they think it makes the case for licensing, we think it makes the case for a ban of this industry which is 'out of control' - watch the video and find out how to contact the RSPB on this subject - click here. We'll come back to this subject later. The initial government response to our petition: the initial Westminster government response to our petition was disrespectful to the 47,000 people who had signed our petition (now over 51,000) and looks very much like the responses from Conservative governments in the past decade or more. Wild Justice wrote to the Petitions Committee pointing out a gross error and asking the Committee to require Defra to correct it. Read our letter - click here. We've now had a response saying that the Committee will investigate this matter - we'll let you know what happens. Of course, the best response to the government is to get this petition over the line of 100,000 signatures and ensure a parliamentary debate on this subject. You can expect regular updates through this newsletter on how our petition is going, but it's not the only thing we are doing so we'll update you on a number of legal cases when we have more to say. That’s it for now! We won't get to 100,000 signatures without your support so please spread the word. Thank you. Wild Justice (Directors: Mark Avery, Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay). This is the 223rd Wild Justice newsletter. This email was sent to you because you subscribed to it through the Wild Justice website or through an e-action or a petition where you ticked a box. Thank you. We will only use your personal details to send you the Wild Justice newsletter. We will not give or sell your details to anyone else. You can unsubscribe at any time: there is an unsubscribe button at the foot of this email or you can reply to this email and ask us to remove you from the list (the former will happen immediately, the latter might take a few days). 9 Lawson St Raunds Wellingborough Northants NN9 6NG UNITED KINGDOM Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options