Can I just say a huge thank you to everybody that responded to the tail docking petition on our website.
There was a massive response from everyone, with a total of 4158 in favour of docking versus 175 against. Since the ban on hunting with dogs, never in my life have I come across such deep anger and frustration in the countryside. This is yet another example of government not listening to the people on the ground.
When will they wake up in Edinburgh? Maybe when we hand our petition over to the politicians something might register that things are badly wrong when it comes to our working dogs.
The terrible pain that has been endured by some of our dogs, not to mention the loss of our many important breeding lines, has, for the past 6 years, been a Scottish national disgrace.
Many of you will have been following the deer row which erupted, first, in the press after SNP MSP Rob Gibson took an interest in the Assynt John Muir Trust land where they have repeatedly refused to fence off some birch regeneration. This led to the RACCE committee asking us to give evidence in parliament, which was trying given that we had just spent 2 years of our life on the Wildlife and Natural Environment bill. This needs time to bed in and become useful. One thing that has become apparent from the evidence sessions is that the deer management groups need help from the stalkers when it comes to discussing the practicalities of the plan.
We will be pushing hard, along with the deer management groups, to have our practical and knowledgable voice heard. Some of our stalkers need the freedom to speak their minds and inform the debate, even when the factors and lairds are present at these gatherings.
Our AGM is at Inverness this year on Friday the 7th of March and the SGA team is looking forward to meeting you all at Caledonian Stadium, Kingsmill Suite. This will be the second year our annual meeting has been held up north.
The last time heralded a great turnout and was hugely successful and we are looking forward to repeating this over again. Our Environment Minister will be there to speak and answer questions you might have for him. We also have some fascinating speakers and it will be great to catch up with some old faces from the last time.
