Rural groups hit back with call for inquiry into bunglers
COUNTRYSIDE groups yesterday demanded a high-level investigation into Natural England’s botched handling of a ban on shooting pest birds.
Rules allowing shooting of wild birds to protect crops and livestock were torn up with just 36 hours’ notice last week, leading to chaos.
Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, yesterday called for a full inquiry by Environment Secretary Michael Gove into how Natural England has handled the affair – branded ‘Crowgate’ in some circles.
Also backing the call were the National Farmers Union, the Moorland Association, the Country Land Owners Association, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, the National Gamekeepers Association and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust.
Rural groups say it is sometimes necessary to shoot wood pigeons because they can strip fields bare of crops.
They also argue that crows need to be shot because they attack baby lambs and feed on the eggs and young of songbirds and other species such as lapwings and curlews.
Natural England abruptly revoked the so-called ‘general licence’ to shoot wild birds last week.
The changes followed a legal challenge from Wild Justice, a pressure group led by BBC presenter Chris Packham, former RSPB head Mark Avery and conservationist Dr Ruth Tingay.
But it has since emerged that Natural England, the government agency responsible, issued reassurances that general licences were ‘legitimate’ just two weeks earlier.
The rural groups’ joint letter, published in the Daily Telewas graph said: ‘This sudden legal change has caused enormous problems at the worst time of year, when lambs, young crops and nesting birds, including declining species such as curlew and lapwing, need protection from pest birds.
‘The system that Natural England has tried to put in place to provide individual licence cover for those in urgent need of control between revocation and the intended replacement for general licences has been a disaster.’
It said a ‘key reason for the chaos’ was the lack of consultation, adding: ‘Natural England wrote to some of us on March 15 explaining that it being taken to judicial review (by Wild Justice), but assuring us that, “Natural England is of the view that general licences are a legitimate regulatory tool”.’
‘We ask Michael Gove… to undertake a full investigation as to who decided what, when, and why.’
A Defra spokesman said: ‘Natural England has made clear it took the difficult but unavoidable decision to change the bird control licencing system as a result of the legal challenge by Wild Justice. People who need to control birds before all the new licences are available can obtain an individual licence.’