Written by: Doug
Published: 8th August 2016, last updated: 5th April 2017
Dr. Mark Avery’s petition to ban driven grouse shooting needs 100,000 signatures before 20th September 2016.
As of today, it has almost 78,000. We want to help get it over the line.
In order to boost the numbers of grouse on the estates, gamekeepers burn, drain and poison the land. Some even illegally bait and kill protected birds of prey. The grouse population increases and they then charge thousands of pounds for people to come to the estates to shoot the birds for fun.
All of this is subsidised by the taxpayer.
Please sign this petition and share this page with everyone you know. We have the chance to make a real difference here if we work together to make our voices heard.
Comments on this post
John Spencer Cook
08/08/16 - 11:34
An activity that should be stopped. We humans are the worst of all predators.
Family MacRae
08/08/16 - 11:39
My family have owned and managed estates and farms in both England Scotland for several generations so know first hand the horrors of bloodsports and hunting. This is purely about the exploitation and destruction of our rich natural history to benefit just a few for their sick pleasures and bloodstained profits. All landowners should be legally bound to protect our wildlife and ecoystems!
lori scott
08/08/16 - 11:49
they need to go and shoot themselves snooty pos that they are
Terence Brown
08/08/16 - 12:05
Sad
Jan Hutson
08/08/16 - 12:19
Outrageous. Can’t they find anything better to do with their time. August 12th is my wedding anniversary, and I hate the thought of it being linked to the killing of our wildlife. Time it stopped!
CATHY
08/08/16 - 12:29
stop the massacre of tetras
bertrand
08/08/16 - 12:30
Don’t kill tretas
E. Déshaun W. Williams
08/08/16 - 12:37
Enough is enough!
Fiona Howe
08/08/16 - 12:38
We should be looking after the wildlife everywhere there is so much building going up that they soon won’t have anywhere to live it’s awful
Joan Hazlewood
08/08/16 - 12:39
I have signed the petition but why is it September when the Grouse season opens on the 12th August?
Douglas Wilson
08/08/16 - 15:06
Hi Joan, all these petitions get 6 months to reach the 100,000 mark, and 20th September will be 6 months since this one was created.
Sara Wickenden
08/08/16 - 12:43
As a former environmental zoologist who is due to move back up to Scotland to be with my family I abhor the practice of driven grouse shooting. It’s is environmentally damaging, reduces already rare species and is morally unacceptable. Not only should the taxpayer not have to fund this despicable excuse for a sport the government should take responsibility and ban it outright. Invest the taxpayers money into real conservation and habitat protection. Not into the pockets of their buddies who enjoy slaughtering grouse.
Penelope Bourne
08/08/16 - 12:45
It is barbaric in this day and age to rear any creature with the intention of driving it, frantic with fear, from it’s hiding place so people can line up to shoot them. Surely these people’s time could be better spent. It would also help protect birds of prey.
Jonny Spink
08/08/16 - 12:50
How can killing be a sport in this day and age. People need to advance.
Terry Wilson
08/08/16 - 12:51
Stop this barbarism.
kath macdougall
08/08/16 - 12:52
about time something was done about this its barbaric
Jean Greer
08/08/16 - 12:55
This should be halted, especially when you get idiots discharging their guns in the direction of houses in the area. This happened to my family several times on the Isle of Skye during the grouse season a number of years ago.
Gerard Taylor
08/08/16 - 12:55
Total barbaric
robert graham
08/08/16 - 13:04
SCUM
Paul
08/08/16 - 13:08
Everything at the expense of making more money…!!!
Leonie
08/08/16 - 13:09
Barbaric out dated sport
Maragert Townsend
08/08/16 - 13:18
The taxpayer funds this destruction to keep the rich, rich! I despair! Anyone who kills for fun has a psychiatric problem.
ben marshall
08/08/16 - 13:22
sad behaviour; destroying an ecosystem for sport and pretending it is natural.
Gilbert Ross
08/08/16 - 13:23
Shooting a living creature and imagining it a “sport” must surely signal a person sick in their mind.
Frank Hill
08/08/16 - 13:43
Outdated barbarism
Sue Train
08/08/16 - 13:44
Why, can you not let nature run it’s own course.
Brian Hart
08/08/16 - 13:49
Stop it now
Sean Currie
08/08/16 - 14:00
Cruel!
Karen Foster
08/08/16 - 14:01
shooting birds for fun! shame on you all.
Angela Johnson
08/08/16 - 14:04
This cruel act is no way fun, please just stop killing defenseless creatures, they are not here for your amusement 🙁
Eddie Waudby
08/08/16 - 14:07
They must be stopped .
linda sadler
08/08/16 - 14:10
Anybody that shoots for fun I think has a problem.
david morgan
08/08/16 - 14:14
Its abloody disgrace that these so called gentry get away with this but as a friend says—-they’ll get theirs some sooner some later but it will happen.
david evans
08/08/16 - 14:18
not good
K.evans
08/08/16 - 14:19
Let’s remove the smug smiles from their cruel faces
Stuart Corbett
08/08/16 - 14:22
Disgusting
Barry Jubb
08/08/16 - 14:24
For fun, says it all.
Catherine J Taylor
08/08/16 - 14:26
barbaric
Mavis Petrie
08/08/16 - 14:32
It far beyond time this was consigned to the history books along with other atrocities that shame our country.
Alex Smith
08/08/16 - 14:34
Live and let live. Animals are NOT on this earth for human’s pleasure!!
Jennifer
08/08/16 - 14:39
Another ” just for fun ” activities that caused unnecessary sufferings!
Celia Bourne
08/08/16 - 14:47
This is awful. Needs to stop.
April Claridge-Elstob
08/08/16 - 14:53
Give the birds a GUN – then you can call it ‘sport’!!!
Anthony James
08/08/16 - 16:11
Are there any other circumstances where environments are managed for blood sports?
Karen Allan
08/08/16 - 16:55
All killing for sport should be stopped.
Lady Elaine Walker
08/08/16 - 17:42
This she be stopped now.
jane winton
08/08/16 - 18:19
Stop killing our wildlife so some ignorant twat can kill birds for fun!
Yvonne Cranston
08/08/16 - 19:03
Find another hobby where there is no blood shed , sickos
Karen Marcotte
08/08/16 - 20:16
Akin to whale hunting.
Richard harrison
08/08/16 - 20:38
Put an end to hunting for sport.
Marian Davidson
08/08/16 - 21:37
Please maintain and do not endanger the normal ecological balance of the Highland Moors. This is in the interest of every living thing on the planet, not merely a few people who only see them as a venue for ‘sport’.
Sue Jordan
09/08/16 - 09:30
Cruel and wicked murder of beautiful birds. They don’t mention how many are just maimed and left to die. hunters are disgraceful 🙁
Brenda Burton
09/08/16 - 11:13
The birds need to fly
It is cruel to shoot them when
People are not needing them
carol hatley
09/08/16 - 12:56
Why do humans feel the need to kill.
Joseph Bergin
09/08/16 - 13:24
A disgrace to our race.
Gill Thomas
09/08/16 - 15:55
Please end this barbaric, unnecessary and unwanted past-time of the minority.
Jackie watson
09/08/16 - 16:46
This is not sport. I’d like to do the same to people who think it is, see how they like it
Mandy Cameron
09/08/16 - 17:12
Totally unacceptable in this day and age.
Bob Halley
09/08/16 - 17:21
Humans the only animal that likes to kill for fun….all hunting should be banned
Sandra Fairclough
09/08/16 - 18:16
Why
stephanie
09/08/16 - 19:28
we should have followed the french model and guillotined the lot in 1789
Fiona Nicoll
09/08/16 - 19:33
This is barbaric – lets create communities for all – with real jobs, affordable housing, schools ad proper land management. Not antiquated, money driven, elistism.
Douglas Wilson
09/08/16 - 19:42
Well done and THANK YOU folks. Around 3000 signatures collected in the last 2 days. You ARE making a difference.
Keep it up! Sign and share!
Carol Carruthers
09/08/16 - 20:15
Ban all blood sport….ALL.
Andrea Morgan
09/08/16 - 22:34
Shooting is a cowards sport.
Susan finn
10/08/16 - 08:10
It’s not a sport if it contains cruelty and death.
Andrea Taylor Kong
10/08/16 - 08:18
Canned hunting. It’s all wrong. All hunting must stop now.
Evemarie Disleris-Beck
10/08/16 - 09:10
These bad old “traditions” belong in the past – it’s 2016 for god’s sake!!
Lynne MacGregor
10/08/16 - 10:04
All blood sports should be banned it’s out dated and just cruel no need for it
Debbie Knight
10/08/16 - 10:07
Killing of animals in the name of so-called ‘sport’ is cruel, barbaric and frankly totally unacceptable in this day and age. ‘Tradition’ is no excuse either. Lets wake up to the 21st century and get blood sports banned.
jennifer hollman
10/08/16 - 10:48
peopel make me sick they think that what they do is ok killing any animal is wrong
Al honea
10/08/16 - 10:49
Please stop these cruel sports
Margaret Martinez Alzate
10/08/16 - 11:52
Needs sorting, – our nstive wildlife is legally protected nut the eich & todfs think they are above the law. We must restore our iplands to a healthy stare – we have the know how & the means, not to mention the urgency re reducing floiding amongst many other factirs…
Carrie Gamble
10/08/16 - 15:03
This is the 21st Century for Gods sake. It’s barbaric
tracey
10/08/16 - 15:48
When will Humans learn that killing is wrong! Call this Sport? I call it murder for fun! Shame on the people who participate, Please stop all Hunting and harming wildlife for Sport!
jacqueline Cahalane
10/08/16 - 16:18
It is 2016 ban these outdated practices. This is not sport it’s killing innocent animals
Shelley Pearce
10/08/16 - 16:26
This is an outrage and I fail to understand how it’s legal under the CRoW Act?!
S
10/08/16 - 16:29
This is not sport !
Ian Carruthers
10/08/16 - 16:30
I agree with this completely!
Angela Smith
10/08/16 - 16:40
Sick fed-up with man thinking it’s OK to kill beautiful living animals wildlife ect leave them alone and in peace, thus is barbaric have they no hearts grrrrrr
Karen Bloor
10/08/16 - 16:45
This is a cruel, barbaric practice and needs to be stopped.
Rebecca Flashman
10/08/16 - 16:53
I really can’t understand why popular and fêted young Royals like William and Kate take part in such cruelty. What’s the fun in frightening a beautiful timid creature that’s trying to hide in the undergrowth into the open simply to blast it out of existence…..or worse still; blow one of its wings off. Not all these wretched creatures are killed outfight, just maimed, rendered flightless, dropped from the sky, picked up in dog’s jaws and eventually dispatched (AKA necks twisted until they break) Why on earth would any decent human being want to take part in such utter, useless cruelty?
Gemma Stevens
10/08/16 - 17:33
This is barbaric behaviour – not a ‘sport’ at all!
Christine Smith
10/08/16 - 17:40
Why oh why do certain people think it is their right to kill things just because they want to
Find another way of amusing yourselves please
jean Campbell
10/08/16 - 18:20
Time these people moved into the 21st century. No place for cruel bloodsport
Anne-Marie Cosh
10/08/16 - 18:24
This is wrong and should not be happening killing is not a sport or pass time it’s cruel and unnecessary
Danny Feeney
10/08/16 - 18:27
Ban blood sports now….
Jo Dawson
10/08/16 - 18:55
Horrible.
D Martin
10/08/16 - 19:09
They say that money is the route of all evil, some people stop at nothing. You are not exempt from the law so how do these people get away with it? it’s about time this stopped!!
Phil read
10/08/16 - 19:31
Reform needed
Angie Tomlin
10/08/16 - 19:35
Please stop the slaughter of these beautiful creatures
Lynne Radford
10/08/16 - 20:07
Please sign
Nick Gardner
10/08/16 - 20:10
Ban it
christine lindsay
10/08/16 - 20:22
The damage caused to the land and to the natural wildlife population is horrendous, protected birds and animals trapped. The decimation of the moorlands and highlands is causing flooding endangering lives, damaging property, causing financial ruin and threatening the living of those affected. The people involved in the pursuit of what can by no means be considered sport are spineless and stupid, shooting grouse is not an achievement, they are bred to be slow and clumsy in flight, hardly a step up from fish in a barrel it is time to put an end this pass-time for buffoons.
Isla
10/08/16 - 20:28
As a hill walker,I have been told very firmly a couple of times to be gone from said area because I am allegedly disturbing baby grouse. I moved on and did not quote the right to roam etc. Now, I am disgusted at driven grouse shooting, and disgusted at the pathetic shooters, who require the grouse to be driven at them before they can shoot birds. Not really fair game, no pun intended. More and more areas are being given over to this horrid past time and it has to stop. I must say I am not totally against shooting, just this highly barbaric way of doing it.
Juds jack
10/08/16 - 20:45
I think it’s barbaric, cruel to kill for the sake of killing.
Rachel Whittle
10/08/16 - 23:59
Hunters are evil people. Who would get perverse pleasure from this?
Beryl Rittman
11/08/16 - 04:44
This isn’t sport it,s mass murder.
This is done in the name of so called Sportsmen!
They should be publicly named and shamed.
Patricia Darvill
11/08/16 - 08:12
In this day and age, it is barbaric.
Maureen Woodhams
11/08/16 - 08:30
All blood sports should be banned
john milne
11/08/16 - 08:50
who can say they are civilised if they kill for pleasure
Marilyn O’Loughlin
11/08/16 - 08:51
Poor things. These people are not men they’re cowards shooting innocent creatures for their ‘amusement’. Shocking that in this day and age these people are allowed to just kill anything they want. Sick people.
Michelle
11/08/16 - 09:25
What’s wrong with this world is too many people lack empathy
Thomas Ryan
11/08/16 - 09:54
Remove them and these antiquated remnants of the aristocracy. Im surprised they can even see the birds after so many generations of inbreeding
Anita Sayer-Hickson
11/08/16 - 10:05
Sport? I don’t think so! The mind boggles at who would want to be a part of such senseless cruelty. Shocking! It should be banned outright!
Lewis Belle
11/08/16 - 11:21
Why must you kill something to have fun?
Take up clay pigeon shooting or something.
rose deery
11/08/16 - 11:23
sick and tired of man thinking he can murder and butcher poor defenceless animals it is barbaric and unnecessary in this day and age
rose deery
11/08/16 - 11:24
it not sport it is murder and crueltyat it’s worst
Sandra
11/08/16 - 11:45
It’s just barbaric It’s got to stop NOW
MAUREEN WILMOT
11/08/16 - 13:10
Anyone who is party to this needs to hang their head in shame. Pray it gets banned and soon.
Alison
11/08/16 - 13:32
Time an end was put to it
Lorraine Archibald
11/08/16 - 13:37
Why do these people(?) think they are above the law?! This is not sport its cruelty and animal abuse!! Name shame and jail the idiots involved in this barbarism towards beautiful and protected wildlife!
D Tuck
11/08/16 - 14:00
I have never & will never understand the mentality of people who need to kill creatures for fun.
Nancy
11/08/16 - 15:36
Stop this killing
Yvonne Smallridge
11/08/16 - 15:53
Why do these rich, cruel people have the urge to massacre innocent, beautiful living creatures? Why do they think they have the right to kill? They are blood thirsty slaughterers.
W.Albert Dow MD
11/08/16 - 15:56
Barbaric
Michelle Dudson
11/08/16 - 16:06
There is no need for this. Some humans just thrive on cruelty!
Peter Sheridan
11/08/16 - 16:33
Vile act by vile bunch of twats.
Mrs Linda sword
11/08/16 - 16:34
Sick of hearing about abuse of all animals do something about it too much abuse in this world through vile people
Jill Hall
11/08/16 - 16:45
Just horrendous to see. Ban it .
Pam Hyett
11/08/16 - 17:30
Killing any defenceless creature is abominable and cowardly and needs to be stopped.
Ann Moore
11/08/16 - 17:49
There is enough cruelty going on all over the world. Please British people be civil and respect animals, birds and yourselves. Let all birds fly free. It’s their world too.
Robert semple
11/08/16 - 18:15
Hunters are evil
Michelle tattersall
11/08/16 - 19:20
This is a cruel sport!
sc
11/08/16 - 19:43
This has to stop
Karen mcevilly
11/08/16 - 19:54
This must Stop
Lara Dynowski
11/08/16 - 19:59
Apart from the obvious cruelty aspects there are so many other knock on effects that are damaging to the surroundings, many animals and our morals. We need to evolve beyond this type of behaviour and respect non-human creatures and their lives. Let us please ban this disgusting excuse for a sport forever!
Seb Beloe
11/08/16 - 20:03
Time this archaic sport was banned.
Karin Greevy
11/08/16 - 21:31
It may be deemed ‘wild’, but it’s life – and it’s not up to humans to cut it short just for ‘pleasure’.
David Scudder
11/08/16 - 21:43
Ban all blood sports!
Chris. Keane
11/08/16 - 22:15
Its just another SICK SICK killing practise by cruel people..way beond time the human race banned these barbarisms
Catherine J Taylor
11/08/16 - 22:17
It’s about time we became civilised
Anne Traill
11/08/16 - 22:49
.
Justine Gough
12/08/16 - 03:44
Disgusting
Vicki musson
12/08/16 - 08:28
All killing of animals is disgusting, barbaric and unnecessary. Human greed will end up destroying this beautiful earth!!!
Carol Coupe
12/08/16 - 10:02
Be a sporting chap! Give them a chance and put your guns away.
Julia McConoughey-Shiels
12/08/16 - 10:36
The time is long past when entitled, spoiled elite are allowed to engage in slaughter. They will never be enlightened or have compassion so it is down to the rest of us to force it on them
Pauline Graham
12/08/16 - 12:03
Ban killing of all creatures, we have become a greedy and selfish nation, time to call a halt!!
ashton maxfield
12/08/16 - 12:14
THIS IS MURDER NOT SPORT
Jeanette brown
12/08/16 - 12:19
Sheer cruelty
Phillip Parfitt
12/08/16 - 12:27
How the hell do you get pleasure from slaughtering thousands of harmless birds? These people must surely have something wrong with them to justify killing for fun.
Anne Johnson
12/08/16 - 13:55
STOP!!!
Lily
12/08/16 - 14:20
This world will never be peaceful until people drop this delusion of superiority and self entitlement to kill freely and without consequences outside of their own species. We still have a long way to go in creating a world I would want my children to live in. It really is a certain type of person who takes part in this type of archaic murder. Please stop all cruel ‘sports’, stop vivisection, stop zoos and circuses and stop meat and dairy.
kirsten mcvey
12/08/16 - 14:41
Action now!
Philip Richards
12/08/16 - 14:49
So sad
James mclean
12/08/16 - 15:06
Stop this killing before they are extinked stop this now
Grace
12/08/16 - 17:21
this is very sad
Diane
12/08/16 - 17:22
STOP murdering animals horrible humans
Michelle robinson
12/08/16 - 17:51
Disgusting what animals have to suffer because of humans !!
Anji main
12/08/16 - 17:54
Signed
Gary Hewson
12/08/16 - 18:14
People should fill their time with maintaining life not ending it
Kate Lewis
12/08/16 - 18:14
Live and let live.
Emerge better.
Take up a real sport, or how about a nice board game… something that engages one’s brain?
Diane Campbell
12/08/16 - 20:26
Its 2016. Have we learned nothing ?
Joanne crooks
12/08/16 - 21:04
This barbaric criel activity should end
James Higgins
12/08/16 - 21:25
Clay pigeon shooting you evil gits
Ingrid
12/08/16 - 21:50
This is a look thirsty cruel sport and it should be banned!
Andrew Jones
13/08/16 - 07:28
No need for this blood sport today. It is abhorrent.
Gloria kirk
13/08/16 - 22:06
Stop this cruel sport it is all about money
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