UK Edition
Game shooting industry returns fire at Chris Packham's Wild Justice
Chris Packham is attempting to strangle the game shooting industry with his latest legal challenge, campaigners have said.
Wildlife campaign group Wild Justice is planning to sue the Government over "failures" to assess the impacts of releasing non-native gamebirds for shooting.
But the plans have been branded an “extremist attack” on the game industry, that will have “cataclysmic” effects.
The group’s latest challenge to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) over what it claims are failures to assess the impacts on conservation sites of releasing tens of millions of non-native pheasants and red-legged partridges into the countryside by the shooting industry, will squeeze the economy, according to campaigners.
“Shooting influences 14 million hectares of rural land management and almost two million hectares are actively managed for conservation. It is estimated that shooting provides for 3.9 million work days being spent on conservation each year, which is the equivalent of 16,000 full-time conservation jobs,” Caroline Bedell, BASC’s executive director of conservation said.
“Without driven shooting the rural environment, and our economy, would be significantly poorer.”
Wild Justice said it aims to force Environment Secretary Michael Gove and Defra to assess the impacts of non-native gamebirds on native wildlife.
The group claims the numbers of captive reared pheasants and partridges being released have increased about 10-fold in the last 45 years and are not regulated by the Government, with more paperwork needed to reintroduce native British species as part of conservation plans than gamebirds.
They also raised concerns about the impact the birds have on native species of plants, insects and other creatures they feed on, and the large amount of prey and carrion they cause when killed on roads or in other ways.
But Tom Adams, MD of the British Game Alliance said their plans are highly problematic for rural people.
“Such ludicrous ideas would be the end of shooting, a community that puts £2.5 billion back into the UK economy and creates 75,000 jobs,” he said.
“The ramifications of what Wild Justice are suggesting for rural people and the land managed for shooting would be cataclysmic.”
Ms Bedell added: “This is another extremist attack on shooting by those associated with the League Against Cruel Sports that ignores the well-documented evidence of the benefits of shooting to conservation and the wider environment.
“The Code of Good Shooting Practice, which sets out the framework for sustainable shooting, includes reference to Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust research which sets out figures for sustainable game bird releasing that do not damage the environment.
“Studies show that well-managed shooting is of benefit to the environment and conservation organisations and the government have acknowledged the benefit of shooting to the environment.
“For example, shoots maintain 25,000 hectares of cover crops which provide important sources of food and shelter for songbirds particularly during the winter and shoots actively manage 500,000 hectares of woodland and 100,000 hectares of copses for the benefit of the environment”
Wild Justice has already challenged Natural England over general licences to kill "pest" wild bird species.
It led Natural England to revoke three general licences, prompting anger from gamekeepers and farmers, with Packham being targeted with dead birds hung from his gate.