Teesmouth Bird Club

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/65627

Hi Michael, have heard this has been a fantastic season , the best for many years for blasting grouse.and no hen harriers to worry about. Are very own prime minister ls a bit partial to shooting ,as are most of his chums.the government response is very predictable. What is a great shame is the petition got ten thousand signature s , and the r s p b.has 1,,114,938 members .what was a little ruffling of feathers , could easily have been more hard hitting .people have the power to change things, at this momment the government know their are just ten thousand who dont like what thay do. If a fraction, of members , bothered to vote , this could have been raised in parliament, thay would have hated the inevitable stink. Sadly its just been noted, and and shoved ln the draw.

The epetition is still open for anyone who wants to sign it.

Well said Tim, I couldn't agree more.

I think it is totally unacceptable that birds of prey are being killed in this country, the punishment that is handed out is an absolute joke and there is no real deterrent.
Unfortunately if that is what your petition is meant to do I think you have missed the point and have no idea how the countryside works. The grouse shoots manage the heather on the moors and keep this habitat stable for one purpose, shooting grouse.
If you ban grouse shooting in Britain then there will be no need to manage the grouse moor and it will disappear because it is no longer a viable commercial habitat. Sheep eat grass and not heather, so grass will steadily replace all the heather. No heather means no grouse. Its all about money and economics, shooting brings in large amounts of income or they wouldn't do it. If you take that income away then the next best thing is sheep which you don't need heather or grouse for and there will no longer be the habitat for the Hen harrier.
If you want people to stop killing birds of prey then it should be about money and jail terms. The punishment needs to be bigger fines for both the keeper and the land owner and should go up very steeply for more offences.
I have been to Mull and Skye quite a few times watching wildlife and in particular went to see the White tails and Hen harriers which seem to be doing OK despite all the shooting that goes on in Scotland.
They have come to realise that there is a vast amount of money to be made from tourism and have diversified as the birds are worth more money to them alive than dead.
Its been a long time coming but it seems to work there and I don't see why it won't work here.
As with everything its a minority that are committing offences and making life difficult for everyone and giving shooting a bad name but what you have got to remember is that hunting in one form or another has shaped a lot of the British countryside and is still maintaining it for the sport. If you ban shooting then the habitats it maintains will no longer be economically viable and will disappear because they are no longer needed.
I have been involved in shooting all my life and so have a lot of my friends and family and I can honestly say that none of us have ever harmed a bird of prey in any way. The only person I have seen do anything like that was a respected bird lover and pigeon fancier who had borrowed a gun from his friend and shot a Kestrel  as he thought is was going to take his pigeons. At the age of ten I knew that a Kestrel was no danger to his birds. I was disgusted with him and never spoke to him again.
Bird watchers can have a reputation of being obnoxious, arrogant, opinionated, self centered and just plain rude. I know people who have never been involved in shooting in any way who really dislike birdwatchers as they have had bad experiences with them on occasions. Just like shooters, birdwatchers can get a reputation for being horrible people because of a few individuals and I should know because I have met some of them.
I have been a birdwatcher for nearly 40 years and hopefully for another 40 more. Shooting is not something I have really done for about 20 years and I am more interested in conservation now.
Sorry for my little rant but I feel that it would be wrong to try to ban grouse shooting as this would actually be worse for Hen harriers and Red grouse in the long run.
Adam

Hi Adam, some excellent points raised, ideally I would like the r s p b , to manage the uplands, to show grouse and raptors can co exist, But , some new laws need to be brought ln. The Swinton estate, in Wensley dale keeper was caught setting his very ileagl pole traps, and accepted the fine.his employer, lord masam, mr Cunliffe lister, is over the moon with this setup, a minimum. Fine , and no harriers, now if lord masam had to go to richmond law courts , that could be better, he knows, exactly what his keepers are up to on his land . But he has great influence, a big financial contributer to the conservative party, lt would be utterly unacceptable for him to go infront of the beak.we want are Harriers back please.