Petition: Don’t Let Farmers Kill Off Turtle Doves!

The iconic turtle dove referenced in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is the fastest declining bird in England. Agricultural herbicides have damaged the bird’s habitat and food sources, and a spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds fears that turtle doves may be lost in the next 10 years.

Herbicides have destroyed weeds that once made up the bulk of the turtle dove’s diet, leaving them reliant on cultivated wheat and oilseed. An unseasonably cold 2012 summer further harmed populations as parents struggled to keep their chicks warm.

A 2011 USDA decision to deregulate GE alfalfa will cause more toxic herbicides — an estimated 23 pounds — to be released into the environment each year. This will have devastating effects on the turtle dove and other wildlife that relies on native plants for survival.

Please sign the petition to tell the UK Government to put native live above agricultural interests and regulate harmful herbicides and GE plants:

Don’t Let Farmers Kill Off Turtle Doves!

Don’t delay! Do it today.