Reaction to new buzzard licence

A group of wildlife organisations, including the RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts and the RSPCA, have joined together to demand that the Government issues no further licences for the destruction of birds of prey or their nests.

According to their jointstatement, “Only in recent years have buzzards recolonised their former haunts — especially in eastern England — and once again become a widespread and celebrated fixture in our skies.”

Gwyn Williams of the RSPB said: “We believe it is wrong that these licences have been issued, it is wrong that there has been no public scrutiny of these decisions, and it is wrong that we only heard of these decisions after the nests had been destroyed.”

BASC chief executive Richard Ali issued a statement on the processes involved in the buzzard licence, saying: “The processes and bodies which regulate wildlife law in Britain are under increasingly shrill attack from pressure groups. BASC is both disappointed and concerned by this turn of events given that the framework has been long established, successful and robust.

The rest of this article appears in the 5th June issue of Shooting Times.

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