Gove may relent on pigeons amid outrage over shooting licences
‘Gove needs to be led by the evidence that pigeons need all-year-round control, and not by noise on Twitter’
MICHAEL GOVE is considering dropping a ban on shooting wood pigeons, in what would be the first climbdown since general licences to fire on “pest” birds were revoked.
The Environment Secretary recently took control of shooting licences away from Natural England amid outrage from farmers and conservationists who feared that their crops and livestock would be affected by the ban.
A legal challenge by Chris Packham, the BBC presenter, and other campaigners resulted last month in farmers being abruptly prevented from killing 16 types of “pest” bird while Natural England reviewed the law.
But The Daily Telegraph has learnt that rules around the wood pigeon may be relaxed, with people being allowed to shoot them under “quarry” laws which cover such game birds as pheasants, grouse and partridge.
Mr Gove was considering the move after advice from conservationists, rural MPS and farmers, sources said.
Farmers said it would be a welcome development to keep down the wood pigeon population, which had risen by 172 per cent since the Sixties. The birds eat crop seeds and can cause up to £5million of damage a year to the oilseed rape crop alone.
Guy Smith, deputy president of the National Farmers’ Union, said: “Farmers’ ability to control pigeons is vital. They can cause huge damage to crops including peas, oilseed rape and other spring-drilled crops.”
A Conservative MP involved in discussions with Mr Gove told The Telegraph: “There’s been lots of talk about this, we’re not there yet but we are putting these options to Defra on a daily basis. It’s up to Gove whether he is minded to side with UK farmers or with Chris Packham.
“He needs to be led by the evidence and not by a volume of noise on Twitter and the evidence points to the fact that pigeons need all-year-round control.
“Gove has been bombarded with grumpy MPS who are annoyed that a Conservative Government has enabled this to happen.
“He needs to be very robust about this. He needs to literally take back control and make it very clear that his job is to protect the interest of farmers.”tom Adams of the British Game Alliance, which regulates 500 shooting estates, said there was strong demand from restaurants and supermarkets for pigeon meat and “a strong argument” that they should be legal quarry. Tim Bonner, Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance, said: “Making the wood pigeon a quarry species would reassure the rural community that Defra has grasped the seriousness of this issue.”
Defra (The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) said it was holding “a formal, open evidencegathering exercise” so that all interested parties could explain the impact of the withdrawal of the general licences. A spokesman said the exercise would “help us shape our approach and get back to a satisfactory situation”. He said no decisions had been made.