Parliament Workbench

Petition · PE01615 · Session 5

State regulated licensing system for gamebird hunting in Scotland

Closed Submitted 11 Jul 2016 Rural Affairs
Signatures
0
7,236 online signatures with a country
Comments
603
Considered
13 meetings
in the Official Report

What it asks

Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to implement urgent action to introduce a state regulated system of licensing of gamebird hunting, that addresses the potentially adverse environmental impact of gamebird hunting, provides for the revocation or amendment of licences where a licence-holder fails to comply with their terms and conditions, and to implement the recommendations of the Review of Wildlife Crime Penalties in Scotland.

What the petitioner did first

Since the advent of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, the SRSG has met with various Environment Ministers, as well as less frequently with the Chair of SNH, to highlight the impacts of wildlife crime on protected raptor populations in Scotland. Many individual SRSG members have also met with their local MSPs to highlight this problem. During these discussions, the SRSG, and its members, have repeatedly pressed the case for the effective licensing of "driven" grouse shooting in particular. Whilst we have received a "sympathetic hearing" in these meetings, and indeed some significant improvements to the legislation protecting birds of prey has followed (notably in the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011), the impacts on some raptor populations from illegal killing remains a significant issue. During this period, the Scottish Government has also commissioned various reviews related to wildlife crime (including the latest one from SNH to look at gamebird hunting licensing systems in other parts of Europe). However this SNH review, as a good example, will apparently make no recommendations for further action, and therefore will likely result in no meaningful progress towards eliminating the illegal killing of birds of prey in Scotland.

Where it was considered

Official Report
  1. 27 Oct 2016
    Public Petitions Committee
    New Petitions
    1 mention
  2. 10 Nov 2016
    Public Petitions Committee
    Continued Petition
    1 mention
  3. 8 Dec 2016
    Public Petitions Committee
    Continued Petition
    1 mention
  4. 24 Jan 2017
    Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee
    Deer Management
    1 mention
  5. 31 Jan 2017
    Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee
    Petitions
    1 mention
  6. 28 Mar 2017
    Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee
    Petition
    1 mention
  7. 18 Apr 2017
    Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee
    Petition
    2 mentions
  8. 16 May 2017
    Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee
    Annual Report
    1 mention
  9. 23 May 2017
    Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee
    Petition
    1 mention
  10. 26 Sep 2017
    Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee
    Petition
    1 mention
  11. 28 Jun 2018
    Public Petitions Committee
    Continued Petitions
    1 mention
  12. 10 Oct 2019
    Public Petitions Committee
    New Petitions
    1 mention
  13. 23 Feb 2021
    Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee
    Petitions
    1 mention

Signatures by country

7,236 online signatures
  1. Scotland3,092 42.7%
  2. England1,989 27.5%
  3. United Kingdom1,746 24.1%
  4. Wales115 1.6%
  5. United States53 0.7%
  6. Northern Ireland26 0.4%
  7. Australia24 0.3%
  8. France22 0.3%
  9. Ireland19 0.3%
  10. Netherlands18 0.2%
  11. 31 other countries132 1.8%

Comments

603 comments, oldest first
603 comments · showing 1–50
  1. Logan Steele 11 Jul 2016
    The game bird shooting industry have had enough time to get thier house in order and have consciously chosen not to.
  2. Andy 12 Jul 2016
    The industrial slaughter of our wonderful wildlife, both legally protected and otherwise, by the shooting industry has to end, it is a national disgrace that shames us.
  3. M. Walsh 12 Jul 2016
    There is no reason not to regulate this form of hunting. Licencing it, as fishing is, seems to make sense. I suspect it only avoided this in the past because of class bigotry. Usually, it's the very wealthy who shoot birds and the poor who fish.
  4. Donald McPhillimy 12 Jul 2016
    About time.
  5. Helen Smith 12 Jul 2016
    This kind of legislation is long overdue. We urgently need to have better laws to protect our raptors, mountain hares and other moorland wildlife. The current situation is a disgrace.
  6. Ben Darvill 12 Jul 2016
    Change is necessary as the status quo is unacceptable. Licencing seems worth a try and is a more moderate step than an outright ban.
  7. Adrian Stapleton 12 Jul 2016
    The killing of any wildlife for sport is wrong really
  8. Claire 12 Jul 2016
    Scottish wildlife, specifically beautiful birds of prey are being killed to enable gamebirds to be kept alive long enough to be shot
    - this is senseless
  9. Liz Rollings 12 Jul 2016
    Raptors were here before driven grouse shoots. Shooting game for fun is not acceptable by any civilised society and trapping so called pests, harming the environment is in no one's interest .
  10. Peter Nash 12 Jul 2016
    Whilst not living in Scotland I am appalled at the increasing numbers of birds of prey being caught, poisoned, trapped and killed in both Scotland and England by so-called guardians of our countryside. We must all act together to do all we can to stop these cruel and illegal practices.
  11. M. Ranner 12 Jul 2016
    Time to regulate this shooting and ensure that not only the gamebird shooting but its effects such as bird of prey persecution and mountain hare shooting are stopped and incorporated into the regulation that Estates and game keepers must comply with.
  12. Ed GLENWRIGHT 12 Jul 2016
    For years the unregulated shooting estates have caused widespread habitat destruction and furthermore persecuted any other species that threaten grouse. The industry (I use that term loosely) needs radical changes forcing upon them to eliminate widespread wildlife crimes. At the moment as it stands the nearly extinct Hen Harrier is a national embarrassment. There is no space in a civilized society for the killing of any wild birds including grouse.
  13. Anne Dick 12 Jul 2016
    If shooting estates will not stop persecuting birds of prey voluntarily
    - then someone must stop them!
  14. Yvonne Watson 12 Jul 2016
    Time to get houses in order, we need to stop senseless killing of these wild animals
  15. Ron Murray 12 Jul 2016
    We MUST move forward with regulation leading to banning of all raptor and game bird hunting by any means.
  16. P Edwards 12 Jul 2016
    Reform is long overdue
    - how bleak our so-called wild areas have become
    - burnt empty hills and empty skies. All to support the interests of a greedy minority..
  17. Simon Tucker 12 Jul 2016
    This is hugely important. The shooting industry is currently a hive of illegal activity and environmental vandalism. It must be properly controlled. As usual, Scotland should show the rest of the UK the way.
  18. John M 12 Jul 2016
    Posterity will judge us culpable if we don't get this right.
  19. j entwistle 12 Jul 2016
    make scotland look beautiful not dead no more extinction of species
  20. John Black 12 Jul 2016
    The hunting industry have had considerable opportunities to deal with the widespread issues of illegal activity and environmental damage caused by some estates. Whatever efforts they may have made to resolve this have been ineffective and a regulatory framework with proportional enforcement and penalties for staff and owners should be now be implemented to mitigate and reverse the damage that gamebird hunting is causing to Scotland's natural heritage.
  21. Adam Craig 12 Jul 2016
    This nonsense goes back to the Victorian period when rich idle aristocrats and others bought these estates (many of us say stolen) which resulted in the mass extermination of birds of prey etc. Its time to put these people in their place and bring about a huge restoration ( particularly forestry) of our country.
  22. Kenny Kortland 12 Jul 2016
    On the grouse moors south of Inverness I have found, and continue to find, numerous examples of bad and illegal practices. The estates show a flagrant disregard for the law and the public interest. It is an utter embarrassment to Scotland.
  23. Catherine Duncan 12 Jul 2016
    If any Raptor is found killed , the estates should loose their license permanently,
  24. Peter Harrison 12 Jul 2016
    Time to stop this minority of people wandering round the countryside with guns in pursuit of their sick sport and making "no go areas" for the rest of us,
  25. G Walker 12 Jul 2016
    Game shooting causes so many damaging impacts and yet it has no regulation. Self-regulation has failed time and time again, what have good estates to fear?
  26. tom ross 12 Jul 2016
    Not against game bird shooting,but the illegal shooting of any protected species must stop and these people must be the same as us,live within the laws of the country
  27. Nicola Penford 12 Jul 2016
    Grouse moors are sterile killing fields and the imposition of a minority elite sport on a landscape scale is not acceptable
  28. Nick Carter 12 Jul 2016
    Scotland's chance to lead the way again.
  29. Nick Moyes 12 Jul 2016
    Voluntary measures to manage moorland for grouse shooting and for protected birds species have clearly not worked, and birds of prey in Scotland continue to be unlawfully shot and poisoned. Many disappear on moorland estates that are managed intensively for shooting. A licencing system seems a fair approach to ensuring compliance with country laws, offering a clear and obvious penalty for shooting estates if evidence of crimes against protected wildlife are both demonstrated and proven.
  30. Michael demain 12 Jul 2016
    All they have to do is stop breaking the law, stop killing birds of prey
  31. Julie Bell 12 Jul 2016
    Angus is a beautiful county, yet its hills are scarred, its wildlife 'managed' by brutal methods, walkers hounded by gamekeepers and biodiversity is but a dream. My heart breaks when raptors, mountain hares, harriers and the land itself are sacrificed in a scorched earth policy for grouse and pheasant.
  32. Ian Ford 12 Jul 2016
    Why is no-one researching impact of Pheasants in Capercaillie habitat? Almost every forest has Pheasants and there will surely be a high risk of disease transfer amongst other risks.
  33. Shirley Brogan 12 Jul 2016
    Those involved in the gamebird hunting have no interest at all in cleaning up their act. Therefore legislation will have to be pursued whilst we still have some wildlife left.
  34. Richard Ebbs 12 Jul 2016
    What happens in Scotland affects raptor numbers in the whole of the UK.
  35. Robert Yates 13 Jul 2016
    Scotland is missing out on the enormous financial benefits that wildlife tourism would provide.
    The shooting fraternity repeatedly tell us that the Scottish economy would collapse but for their shooting estates. The truth is that they monopolise great areas of land, employ very few people and persecute our wildlife to extinction.
    It's time for change!
  36. N Findlay 13 Jul 2016
    Greedy landowners cannot be allowed to continue to destroy hill land habitats and wildlife for short term gain. Enough is enough.
  37. Michael Cavanagh 13 Jul 2016
    I would support a complete ban on driven grouse shooting as well as the slaughter of mountain hare
  38. Mary 13 Jul 2016
    I may not live in Scotland, but as a visitor to see wildlife there, I contribute to the economy, and have a just right to have my views taken into account.
  39. David Forsyth 13 Jul 2016
    I walk regularly in the Glens of Aberdeenshire and Angus as I have done for some 50 plus years and can testify to seeing our countryside move to a monoculture of driven bird shoots to the detriment of all and anything that is thought to be impinging on the profit of this industry. The land is being scarred also by the abundance of roads being built. In so many places the land now has an almost urban waseland feel to it. This must stop now if our future generations are to know and enjoy anything of the Scottish countryside and its heritage
  40. Simon Brooke 13 Jul 2016
    There are no large natural moorlands in Scotland. The natural treeline is above the top of our highest mountains, and Norway, further north than us, has forest above the peak of Ben Nevis. We've lost our forest because we've lost our climax predators, but muirburn and other destructive practices related to 'game bird' management prevent the recovery of upland forest.
  41. Andy Lawson 13 Jul 2016
    As a very regular hillwalker, I frequently stumble across snap traps, snares, larson traps, etc. on grouse moors
    - some with dead wildlife. I have come across dead foxes piled up (possibly caught by dogs) and have been approached suspiciously on a number of occasions and questioned as to exactly where I was going, where I had been, who I was, etc by gamekeepers. I have found animals strung up as an apparent deterrent to other animals. I have also found suspicious carcasses left out within cage taps which may, or may not, have been poisoned. It is time Scotland sorted out this problem of estate owners and gamekeepers having almost free reign to kill whatever they desire in the name of grouse management. Two areas that are worst for traps are Strathdon in Aberdeenshire and the Scottish Borders.
  42. Alex Milne 13 Jul 2016
    The environment minister has made it clear that due to the employment it provides, she is willing to accept the destruction of raptors, mountain hares and other species that go hand in hand with the so called sport and the people who are employed with it. This is not acceptable to me.
  43. Karen Allan 13 Jul 2016
    Rewild Scotland, properly!
  44. Ronnie Graham 13 Jul 2016
    I have absolutely no problem with game shooting where it is done sustainably and without the persecution of raptors and protected mammals. But it's time for change especially on Scotland's grouse moors.
  45. Julie Childs 13 Jul 2016
    The UK's remaining countryside and wildlife needs urgent protection. It's important in its own right and we also owe this to future generations. It isn't our to destroy!
  46. Chris Barber 13 Jul 2016
    I know from discussions with many keepers and those involved with shooting, that there is a significant antipathy towards many raptor species, and that with some, there is a level of arrogance towards the legal protection system that is unacceptable. I believe a licencing sys
    tem would be a fair way forward for all parties.
  47. Lyn Ibbitson-Elks 13 Jul 2016
    I visited Speyside in early April, and we visited the area where a vast no. of mountain hares had very recently been slaughtered. I had a lovely time but this was the only area where we saw nothing
    - no mammals, no birds. Nothing. It was very sad. In total I saw one mountain hare, a dot on a hillside. It makes no sense to me why anyone would want to end the life of a beautiful creature. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. (Edmund Burke)
  48. George Murdo 13 Jul 2016
    I spent quite a few years living in the Angus Glens and was outraged by some of the practises I saw. I came across lines of snares that had not been checked for months with the dried up fur and bones of animals still present in the traps. I found a similar situation existed with spring and fenn traps, some placed legally and others illegally. The burning practises also left a lot to be desired as they ignored both the weather conditions i.e. wind strength and direction which often resulted in fires going out of control and fire engines called. They also often ignored ecologically sensitive areas which were supposed to be a part of the protected environment. In addition, given both the history and the fact that many bird of prey territories continue to be unoccupied, it appears that raptor persecution continues basically unhindered. Licensing would ensure adherence to democratically sanctioned laws which applies to our country, with penalties commensurate with the offence. Voluntary adherence appears to have failed and we are now at a critical level as far as hen harriers go, and might also be approaching a time when mountain hares are also endangered. If no law breaking on behalf of the shooting estates and lobby is intended then I see no reason why they, also, should not support this petition. If they do object one must wonder why?
  49. Tracey Smith 13 Jul 2016
    Let's get the moors licensed and independently monitored. This way the shooters can carry on their sport and their conservation measures, monitoring can be carried out to make sure they stick to the rules and licenses can be removed if they break the law. At the moment too much native wildlife is destroyed in large numbers to keep alive one alien species that is just going to be shot and make the land owners a lot of money . Surely this is a win win situation for everyone
  50. Peter 13 Jul 2016
    I visit the uplands around Speyside to walk for recreation and I witness first-hand the awful effects of grouse moor management wherever I go. The landscape is empty and impoverished as far as the eye can see, devoid of life and scarred by burning, road building and fences . White markers pinpoint countless grit stations and I come across more mechanical traps than I do wildlife of any form. It seems inconceivable that this barren land should be part of a National Park. A desperate situation that is getting worse and something has to change. I live in hope we might see a meaningful response to this petition.