Government agrees to examine impact of
shooting industry’s release of 50m non-native birds
Thu 12 Sep 2019 10.20 BST Last
modified on Thu 12 Sep 2019 11.56 BST
The annual release of more than 50
million non-native game birds into the countryside with no environmental
assessment is to be reviewed by the government after campaigners
announced a
legal challenge.
Chris Packham, Mark Avery and Ruth
Tingay, of the campaign group Wild
Justice, argued that the massive and unregulated increase in the number of
pheasants and red-legged partridges put into the British countryside for
shooting each year – up from 4 million in the early 1970s – contravened the EU
habitats directive.
Under these laws, the impact of game
birds on the biodiversity of protected areas must first be assessed. Pheasants
and partridges can prey on native reptiles and amphibians, while recent
scientific evidence has shown an association between game birds and higher
numbers of foxes and avian
predators such as crows, which in turn prey on rare species such as curlew.
The Department for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs (Defra) has confirmed there will be a
review of the way game birds are released on or near protected areas
such as special areas of conservation in England.
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