As you know, Scottish Greens MSP Alison Johnstone has recently lodged an amendment to the Animals & Wildlife Bill, which would make mountain hares a protected species, effectively ending the mass slaughter on grouse moors (see earlier blog here).
An estimated 26,000 mountain hares are killed on grouse moors every year. Here’s one of them, shot and left to rot on Glenogil Estate in the Angus Glens. Photo by OneKind:
Alison’s amendment is due to be debated and then voted upon by the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday 17 June 2020.
There has been a LOT of activity on social media since the amendment was announced, with many constituents contacting their MSPs and asking for an indication of how they intend to vote on this issue.
As a further demonstration of public support for the amendment, the Scottish Greens have launched a public petition where YOU can have your say. It has gathered over 7,000 votes in the last two days. If you’d like to sign it, please click HERE
For those who want to learn more about the mass killing of mountain hares on Scottish grouse moors, this 2017 report (here) provides a good introduction, as does this video:
Raptor Persecution UK 
Signed & Shared
Is nothing sacred these days?
Beautiful creatures , leave them alone
This has to end
Signed and shared
Stop!
I understand land owners need to make money but not this way!!
Utterly disgraceful waste of animals life
Stop!
Absolutely unbelievable.
There is unecessary killing of many animals, usually due to man’s demand for things that make them money! Please STOP killing these beautiful mountain Hares!They will become wiped out,like so many mammals and birds before them.Once they’ve gone, there’s no regretting it,and trying to bring them back!
Stop killing everything!! Give at rest! 😪😪
Stop destroying everything that stands I. The way on money making!!!
You should be ashamed
Please stop the murder of innocent hares. Please.
Signed and shared
This has no place.
Rotten to the core, Scottish government does not care it likes the Tourist income from the estates. Turns a blind eye all the time. This needs stopping.
This horrendous.. please stop!
STOP THE BARBARITY!!!
THEY HAVE AS MUCH RIGHT IF NOT MORE TO BE THERE!!!!!
DISGUSTING, I’M RAGING!!! SO ARE ALL OF THE HOUSEHOLD
This is barbaric and needs to stop.
Trouble is, yes, it’s appalling and must stop but, we find it so easy to focus on these truly vile practices. In truth, they are acting as a distraction to disgaceful truths that sit right under our noses. Road building, house building to accommodate our overpopulation. Everywhere one looks in the UK today, someone is keen to destroy, exploit, comoditise valuable wildlife habitat, pushing native populations of mammals, birds fish, invertebrates etc, to the limit.
Why!
End this now, poor animals haven’t done anything to hurt anyone. This whole virus came about from the mistreatment and killing of innocent beings!!
Please stop the mass killing of mountain hares on the grouse moors. The culling of any animal /species for the profit of the few, especially when done to facilitate the killing of another( bred for killing species) is morally abhorrent and has no place in the 21st century.
Please stop the mass killing of mountain hares on the grouse moors. The culling of any animal or species for the profit of a few, especially when it’s to facilitate the killing of another creature (specifically bred for killing) is morally abhorrent and has no place in the 21st century. Please end it as soon as possible.
Why is this happening?
Killing mountain hares to protect birds that are then going to be shot is just plain illogical and makes aspects of Scotland, as in hunting and those who support or allow it to happen, look barbaric and backwards. Move forward Scottish parliament and stop this from happening, vote against the shooting of such a beautiful animal for a pointless reason.
This is absolutely disgusting
End the cruelty
Killing a keystone species in order to artificially inflate the numbers of
another for sport. This is ecocide
Stop The Killing of our Wildlife !!!!
This is just so very wrong. We should treasure our wildlife not destroy it.
Signed & shared
Pass that law
This is an absolutely senseless act, purely so the lord’s can go on their shoots, it’s about time it was stopped
A long overdue petition to the Scottish Government to end the annual slaughter of mountain hares. A disgusting practice practised by estates involved in driven grouse shooting.
Disgusting practice
Why are you killing these beautiful creatures
Humans are the scum of the earth…. If I was God I would be disgusted with the human race… we are sad and pitiful
Psychopaths getting away with murder 🤬
Signed and shared
I strongly suspect the killing of these hares is just another excuse by the “bullies with guns” to go out and kill something just to satisfy their blood lust egos. Shameful. All recent studies have shown a massive decline in wildlife across the UK, so its time we had better legislation to protect what little is left.
This has to stop.
Time to stop this
They are Beautiful Creatures and rightly so they should be protected as for that matter so should grouse and pheasants
Long overdue
These are a part of the ecosystem and should be protected
This is unacceptable
More Bullshit by the idle minority
Mass murder of an important species
Please rethink. Upsetting the balance of nature by mass murder always has repercussions
Enough is enough. Stop this senseless slaughter.
Words fail me..one question…WHY ?
Stop this
We now urgently need to treat all living beings with respect.
Barbaric, it must stop.
Disgusting practice for a disgusting pastime.
Exactly, why. What harm are they doing
good luck on this one Scotland, correct me if I am wrong but I have been told by a very reliable source that people actually pay to join the keepers in this unsporting act on a game species, to put some context on the subject for those who are unaware a Mountain hare will sit tight thinking it cant be seen till a shooter gets within less than 5 metres, shot at this distance its meat will be inedible. this is lower than canned hunting, the majority of these Hares end up in stink pits, would love to hear the bullshit spin of Duncan Thomas, Adam Gilruth and Amanda Andarson on this compared to the thoughts of grass roots members of their societies
An estimated 26,000 mountain hares are killed on grouse moors every year. Just so the rich can be entertained.
Stop this barbaric slaughter.
Number of mountain hares decreased substantially. Culling must end. Our wildlife needs to be protected more than ever before.
Cruel and unnecessary, a rare and beautiful creature should be protected not slaughtered.
This unnecessary and barbaric loss of wildlife needs to be stopped
Sadistic bloodlust. ACW.
A barbaric practice . Not the way forward in a civilised eco Britain moving forward . To much cruelty . All blood sports and such activities need to be banned .
Please end this cruelty now
Thank you Chris and everyone who brought this to the attention of the public. We all stand with you on this
So unecessary just for bloodthirsty people.
Hopefully this archaic sport and the type of people who think it is fun, will be seen for what it and they truly are.
You say “left to rot”.
Alternatively “left to provide lead-laced carrion for birds of prey”
Please stop this unnecessary killing of a beautiful animal just for greed.
This is so cruel and heartbreaking. Suffering animals ? Why please stop this!
Please stop this cruel behaviour!
Signed, and MSP contacted.
Disgusting and unnecessary
Killing animals and referring to it as sport is obscene. To then go on to kill anything that you think interferes with that barbaric activity is madness. This is destroying finely balanced eco systems and robbing the country side of some of the most beautiful creatures in the UK. Shooting of any animals should be outlawed. Ban guns and snares and make shooting illegal. Ban grouse shooting.
Just stop!
No to blood sports
A totally unnecessary act as usual with no thought for anything but themselves and money
Stop!
We have to stop these people !
Despicable activity
Stop the slaughter. These creatures are not destroying the Highlands but the hunters are!
This mass killing is absolutely appalling and has to stop.
It has to stop!
83 comments and counting shows how utterly revolting we find the destruction of mountain hares. Petition signed and letters to my MSPs emailed.
Sick and evil
It is totally disgusting.
It is still NOT right to kill any animal, Man is slowly ridding our planet of all wild animals, please please! Stop!!!
This is disgusting 😡😡
This should stop barbaric !!
Please stop brutally culling wildlife.nature has a natural order and selection system.leave these animals alone
Barbaric!
Signed , commented and shared
Please end the mass slaughter of beautiful mountain hares all for the sake of money.
I wasn’t aware of this. It’s just another instance of the human races parasitic ways throughout the world. Very sad.
Come on SNP let us see just how progressive you are or we can conclude that you are not that different to the Tories down south.
Greed and no respect for what a life means
Signed.
Stop this cruelty
Just totally shocking.
This needs to be stopped!
Leave wildlife alone
Stop the killing of beautiful innocent hares
As an animal lover I cannot understand why this barbarity exists. 2020 or the dark ages?
STOP THE KILLING
You kill the hares which natural food for predators then kill the predators because they kill a few grouse.It makesno ecological sense.Why cant you sit back and watch nature work its wonders with balanced ecosystems full of beauty?
This nonsense needs to end.
Why can’t they leave nature alone 😰😢
This needs to stop now
The point of all this is that, though these ‘people’ will say, ‘Well it is legal, we’ve done nowt wrong’, anyone that is ok with doing this, literally mass slaughter, legally, will have absolutely no qualms about killing occasional, if that is all they can find, birds of prey illegally, and of course the continued, legal killing of much of our other native wildlife. It matters not a jot that they are beautiful cuddly creatures in the end, though that may be the catalyst that provides much needed support for the bill to the otherwise ‘ignorant’, though I use that term not at all disparagingly.
This practice should stop NOW! This is totally barbaric and they should be left alone. They do far less damage than man does. All man wants to do is kill everything!
This is disgraceful cruel and barbaric .why kill theses beautys they are not eating your birds are they stop now
Petition signed and emails sent to all 8 MSPs in my local area.
Jenny Marra, LAB, replied and voting in favour of amendment.
Lewis Macdonald, LAB, replied and voting in favour of amendment.
Mairi Gougeon, SNP, – replied, giving amendment careful consideration.
Liam Kerr, CON, no response.
Bill Bowman, CON, no response.
Peter Chapman, CON, no response.
Tom Mason, CON, no response.
Mike Rumbles, LIB, no response.
I thought you and your readers may be interested to learn that the Scottish Government is going to have a busy day tomorrow.
As well as considering whether to give protected status to hares, it will also be deciding whether to increase the penalties for wildlife crimes. All the amendments lodged under the Animal and Wildlife Penalties, Protections and Powers Bill will be considered and Mairi Gougeon, Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment, will outline the Scottish Governments position on each of them at the Stage 3 debate tomorrow, which you can watch on the Scottish Parliament website.
Let’s hope that not only will the hare be protected but the penalties increased to such an extent that they are regarded as serious enough to permit the police to undertake covert surveillance.
Signed and shared, this is all getting out of hand now. It used to be we killed to eat, but now too many ppl are getting a kick out of it!!!!!😡 This needs to stop NOW!!!
Slaughter to ensure rich landowners earn even more from people who get pleasure in killing animals.
Its bloody disgusting a disgrace, what is the government doing about this ,
Grow up and stop this slaughter.
Please stop the slaughter of these beautiful animals
Unacceptable 😡
Disgusting cruelty needs to end!
Why are you doing this, animals matter more than humans, what do we contribute to the world apart from destruction and murder, every animal contributes to the life of the world and its order,,,, STOP DOING THIS
Let them live !!!