Three weeks ago we reported that Alex Rowley MSP (Scottish Labour) had lodged a parliamentary motion relating to the ‘disappearances of birds of prey over driven grouse moors’ (see here).
This motion was triggered not only by the suspicious disappearance of satellite-tagged golden eagle Tom, who vanished in to thin air during lockdown in May this year, along with his fully-functioning satellite tag, with his last known location being on a driven grouse moor in Strathbraan, a well-known raptor persecution hotspot (see here), but also the suspicious disappearance of seven other satellite-tagged golden eagles in the same area, the disappearance of another satellite-tagged hen harrier on another Scottish driven grouse moor (here), the illegal poisoning of a satellite-tagged white-tailed eagle found dead on another Scottish grouse moor (here), and the 43 hen harriers that have either gone missing or have been killed in the UK in the last two years, mostly on or close to driven grouse moors (here).
A quick check today on the progress of this parliamentary motion has revealed it has full cross-party support, with MSPs from all parties signing up:
There are 26 supporters to date, from Scottish Labour, SNP, the Greens, the Lib Dems, an independent, and, surprisingly, the Conservatives. Well done Peter Chapman MSP (Scottish Conservatives, NE Scotland) for being the sole supporter (so far) from this party.
The motion needs four more supporters before it reaches the threshold of 30 MSPs from at least two different political parties to qualify for a Parliamentary debate.
Parliamentary motions are ‘live’ for six weeks before they’re culled (if they haven’t attracted sufficient support) so this one still has about three weeks to run.
If your MSP is not listed, please consider dropping them an email and encourage them to support this motion. If they refuse, it’d be interesting to hear their explanations. NB: Ministers and Cabinet Secretaries are not eligible to support these motions.
If you’re unsure about who your elected representatives are, you can find them here.
Thank you
Raptor Persecution UK 
I’ve emailed my remaining 6 MSPs who have not signed, asking them why not, or when they intend to do so.
My MSP says he’s now signed it, he’s in the SNP.
Who is he Les?
Angus MacDonald.
Peter Chapman supporting the motion is very interesting. He is a fairly archetypal Scottish Conservative who topped the regional list in the constituency, so pretty safe if he stands again. He was Con spokesperson for the rural economy (until a little local difficulty) and still sits on the Rural Economy Committee. The Angus Glens are in the constituency, so probably quite a brave move on his part and he deserves praise for this.
Inch by inch, step by step things continue to move in the right direction.