16/03/2019
Wild
Justice, the non-profit company set up by
Chris Packham CBE, Dr Ruth TIngay and Dr Mark Avery to fight for
wildlife and the environment, has announced its first legal campaign. The
enterprise will challenge Natural England's practice of issue General Licences
allowing the killing of certain bird species.
By
definition, these licences do not have to be applied for; users simply have to
abide by the terms of the licence in order to kill unlimited numbers of
so-called 'pest birds', despite there being no legal definition of pest.
Species that can be killed under the licence include Carrion
Crow, Jay, Lesser
Black-backed Gull, Ring-necked
Parakeet and Rook,
among others. The system has been in place for decades and has allowed the
casual killing of millions of birds.
Wild
Justice believes that this is unlawful and that Natural England has a legal
responsibility to show that killing the birds is an appropriate last resort.
The company is seeking a judicial review of Natural England's decision to issue
General Licences GL04, GL05 and GL06 on 1 January 2019. Similar licences apply
to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and the case will have implications in
those countries too.
The
organisation stated: "We are not asking for the 2019 General Licences to
be withdrawn, but rather that Natural England does not issue further General
Licences and instead develops a legal system for regulating and monitoring the
killing of birds to establish whether lethal control is absolutely
necessary."
In order
to challenge Natural England, Wild Justice need to raise £36,000 and have set up
a crowdfunding campaign. At time of writing, less than 24 hours after the
campaign was set up, £11,669 had been donated.
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