This story in Sunday’s Telegraph coincides with the Conservative Party conference. It criticises two UK firms for providing holidays to Morocco to shoot Turtle Doves – a declining species in the UK and the rest of Europe. So threatened is the Turtle Dove these days that it is listed as globally vulnerable to extinction. Shooting globally threatened species can’t be a good thing and Defra/DFID minister Zac Goldsmith says:
The UK is a world-leader in wildlife conservation both at home and abroad. We have committed to doubling our spend on climate change and focusing much of the uplift in nature protection and restoration.
Turtle dove numbers have plummeted in recent years and it is appalling that anyone would want to fly to Morocco simply to shoot more of them. I would strongly urge people not to take part in this macabre activity.
For our part, we will continue to take firm action, including through the trailblazing partnership project Operation Turtle Dove, to help ensure this special bird is protected for generations to come.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/29/british-holidaymakers-warned-macabre-turtle-dove-shooting-trips/
Fair enough, a bit of condemnation of actions abroad never goes down badly with the Conservative Party and it is very rare for a Defra minister to criticise UK shooters at all.
However, the evidence is strong that Turtle Doves’ main problems are on their breeding grounds where, in UK farmland, for example, nesting success is chronically low and much lower than it once was. Unless Turtle Doves can raise more young then they are going to go extinct – they may be extirpated from the UK quicker than elsewhere because our farmland is so inimical to them, and they may be driven to extinction quicker if they are also shot in large numbers, but fixing their productivity is the key to survival.
It’s quite amusing to hear Operation Turtle Dove described by the Telegraph as a ‘huge and costly’ project – how much was spent on it? It’s difficult to tell. Turtle Doves don’t get much of a mention by Defra although they have funded a BTO evaluation of the Turtle Dove package available to farmers.
It’s a pity that the Telegraph didn’t get a quote from BASC or GWCT or the Countryside Alliance on this ubject. I wonder what they would have said.
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You can see the minister’s point. It’s appalling that anyone would go to Morocco to shoot Turtle Doves when they are plenty of Snipe, Woodcock and Golden Plover on our own shores that can be dispatched at will, in any numbers, with no regulation of any kind. Or if you get bored with that, why not take out a few of globally threatened Pochard – as many as you like really, no one’s counting.
Plus points to Zac Goldsmith. Even more plus points if the Government were to ban companies for offering these diabolical trips. How incredibly low some people do sink, both the people that offer these horrible trips and those that take part.