A modest proposal

Mark 22 Comments

If you need a licence to release native UK species, such as Red Kites, into the environment you should surely need a licence to release non-native species such as Pheasants into the countryside.

 

 

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22 Replies to “A modest proposal”

  2. I totally agree.
    And some rules about non-natives are in place already.
    Eg. If you trap a grey squirrel it is illegal to release it back into the wild.

  4. Don’t forget the risk assessment for road traffic interactions. The whole thing starts to look quite costly. Long overdue though. After all, this is a commercial activity we’re discussing. Totally different parameters to something like nature conservation.

  5. In an ideal world, that would work. But in this one, our government would just issue the licences as a way of raising cash.

  6. Animal species, yes. Plant species might be problematic! Triticum aestivum, for example. 😉

  7. Mark or anyone – do you know what the legal status of pheasants is? There are loads running around on the roads near where I’m staying and it’s really dangerous/nerve wracking. I’m sure farmers wouldn’t be allowed to have their cows and sheep free roaming all over the roads.

      1. It is a complicated business being a pheasant! If what George says is correct and they are classified as wild when they are running around on the roads, then why are they excluded from the Wildlife and Countryside Act which I think does not apply to game birds?

        1. Alexandra – the WCA does apply to gamebirds – they have their own little sections of it that say we can kill them at certain times of year.

          And it applies to other species (eg Carrion Crow) which can be killed by authorised people at any time of year.

          Complicated stuff isn’t it.

    2. you could always try the Police non emergency number to report it – they can decide if the birds are wild or not, and would hopefully record the incident (as at least a nuisance, and potentially a hazard)

    1. No releases in SSSIs or SPAs release limited to recommended densities ie to best practice taking into account any pheasants/ RLPs already present. Currently problem is in a pen they are livestock outside pen they are wildlife. If they were still livestock you would be unable to shoot them with a shotgun.

    2. no releases within 5km of another. If birds naturally settle, then GWCT must remove them and release them somewhere else where there are none.

  10. I hit a pheasant once and it did £100 of damage to the front of my car. This is minimal though compared to deaths caused by pheasants. There was a case in Hampshire in which someone swerved to avoid a pheasant and hit an oncoming car – killing the driver. Research has established that most pheasants tend to stay need the feeder hoppers so a condition of the license should be that any release pens and feeders should be a minimum distance from any roads. I am not sure what that distance should be but there’s probably some research out there that might help. A kilometre perhaps?

  12. I agree. I think licences shouldn’t be issued unless the person intending to release the game birds can clearly demonstrate that their release will have minimal environmental impact. They would have to prove that the release would not skew predator populations etc. Wait a minute, wouldn’t they then just kill off all the predators first and then apply for the licence, where there are no predators populations can’t be skewed.

    Basically with this proposal releasing game birds would only be acceptable in totally barren environments where there is just a mono-culture of crops, that would become a mono-culture topped up with a few game birds which would have to be fed. Actually vast swathes of the English countryside are already like this so it probably wouldn’t make that much difference.

  13. I would say that is fair but suspect if this were to come in to force there would also be an evolution and expansion of licences to kill raptors predating licensed game birds.

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