Labour has called its plans for tackling wildlife crime the “most radical animal welfare plan in the world”. The party has stated that it would spend an additional £4.5m to recruit wildlife crime officers with numbers increasing from 88 to 170. The officers would be dedicated to dealing with illegal hare coursing,…
News
Do you have a deactivated firearm in your possession? Read on and stay within the law
All owners of deactivated weapons will now need to ensure that they notify the Home Office. From 12 December it will be a legal requirement to register the transfer of deactivated weapons with the Home Office. Notification of the possession of deactivated weapons will be staggered. Those acquired after September 2018…
British Shooting Show announces additional Manchester event
The British Shooting & Countryman Show will take place at Event City in Manchester on 19-20 September 2020 and on 18th & 19th September 2021, 17th and 18th September 2022 The September event was originally due to be held in Liverpool but was banned after action by the Mayor of…
Reading University bans pheasant shooting
Following an internal review, the University of Reading has decided to stop organised game shooting on its land. It will also no longer allow university farmland to be used to raise pheasants or partridges for shooting “once an existing agreement with an external group that uses University farmland comes to…
RSPB to review gameshooting and land management
Kevin Cox, the chair of the Council, has announced that the RSPB would be reviewing its policy on gameshooting and land management. He stated that RSPB policy makers would develop “a set of conservation tests for management practices associated with game bird shooting.” He acknowledged that this is an “emotive issue”. He…
Chris Packham confronted by moorland communities in Yorkshire
Moorland communities made their feelings loud and clear to Chris Packham, stressing that misleading statements and actions by the likes of the TV presenter are putting their way of life under threat. Chris Packham is renowned for speaking out against driven grouse shooting. The presenter, campaigner and author was met…
Liverpool city council condemns shooting of all animals as “barbaric”
A cross-party motion at a meeting of Liverpool city council on the evening of 16 October 2019 has condemned shooting of all animals as “barbaric.” The motion was put forward after plans for the British Shooting Show to take place in Liverpool in September 2020 were pulled by the council,…
British Shooting Show Liverpool banned
The British Shooting Show Liverpool was to take place in September 2020, but has now been banned after action by the Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson. Anderson said: ‘This Council declares its complete opposition to any form of hunting live animals with hounds or shooting live game, in the UK…
Changes to general licences in Wales from 7 October
What you need to know about the changes to general licences in Wales which come into effect from 7 October 2019, Changes to GL001, GL002 and GL004 GL001 – Issued for preventing serious damage to livestock, foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables or fruit or to prevent the spread of disease…
Lead shot shown to be major cause of bird deaths
Spent lead shot significantly weakens the immune systems of wild birds and is a major cause of death, according to a newly released scientific paper. The paper entitled Immunotoxic effects of lead on birds was published in Science of the Total Environment. The harmful effect of spent lead shot on…
Labour Party outlines shooting plans
The Labour Party has released its Animal Welfare Manifesto, which includes a number of proposals that could affect the future of shooting. The 10-page document, announced recently by Sue Hayman, the shadow environment secretary, proposes, among other things: the prohibition of keeping gamebirds in cages and a plan to ban…
Have your say in new Government survey on general licences
Environment secretary Theresa Villers has launched a 12 week public survey as part of a planned review of general licences to manage wild birds in England. What is the purpose of the general licence review? Defra says the aim of the review: ” … is to ensure the licensing system…
The EU is moving towards an outright ban on lead shot
The European Union has taken a major step towards a full ban on lead shot. Wetlands The EU has been in the process of implementing a ban on the use of lead over wetlands for some time and a move to restrict the use of lead in other environments has…
Labour launches new attack on grouse shooting
The Glorious Twelfth – the traditional start of the grouse shooting season – has been marked by a new attack from Labour on the sport. The party has stated that there are “viable alternatives”, like simulated shooting and that protecting the rare moorland environment is a priority. “The costs of…
Wild Justice abandons latest campaign on general licences … for now
On 18th July the group Wild Justice announced a new threat against the gameshooting community, saying that gamebird releases ought to be regulated. The Leigh Day website (lawyers for Wild Justice) advised that Defra had until 31st July 2019 to response to the Pre-Action Protocol (PAP) letter sent on behalf of…
The results of this year’s Savills Game and Conservation Benchmarking survey may surprise you
So how have driven game shoots performed through the 2018/19 season? Is it good news for shooting? Savills and the GWCT collected data from 88 UK shoots and this is what they discovered. Game and Conservation Survey 2019 Facts and figures Over 1800 days were shot, more than a million…
What’s on at the Game Fair 2019?
People have all sorts of reasons to go to the Game Fair. Perhaps it’s where you catch up with old friends over a pint or where you try out before buying some new kit you’ve read about. Maybe you make a beeline for the clay line to satisfy your competitive…
Exclusive: Government proposes to tighten firearms licensing
The Home Office has today contacted Shooting Times with news of a consultation on statutory guidance for the police issuing firearms certificates. The Government department has signed an agreement with the British Medical Association (BMA) to improve co-operation between the police and GPs. The independent police inspectorate, HMICFRS, previously found…
New attack on shooting community launched by Wild Justice
In the five weeks since Defra announced three new general licences (GL34, GL35 and GL36), the campaign group Wild Justice, which consists of scientists Dr Mark Avery and Dr Ruth Tingay, plus Chris Packham, the TV presenter and naturalist, has been preparing its latest campaign to hold the shooting community…
General licence update
A new set of general licences has been issued by DEFRA, following the outcry over their revocation by Natural England after pressure from campaign group Wild Justice. The new licences have been welcomed by shooting and countryside organisations but problems remain over shooting on protected sites. The move marks a…