More than 26,000 copy BASC into Defra game shooting evidence

More than 26,000 people copied BASC into their responses to Defra’s call for evidence on game shooting, the association has revealed, with others replying by post or through the department’s online survey. The campaign to drive responses reached more than six million views on social media and drew 230,000 engagements before the review closed on Saturday, 1 November.

What was the review asking?

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) ran its call for evidence on gamebird rearing, release and shooting in England from 4 September to 1 November. It invited evidence on welfare, environmental effects and the management of released birds, and the sector treated it as the most consequential examination of game shooting in a generation, filing submissions from every major representative body alongside the thousands of individual replies.

How did the response build?

BASC asked members to send Defra their own experiences rather than a template reply. The association says many people spread the word to their contacts by email, through WhatsApp groups and across social media networks, and some recorded motivational videos urging others to take part before the deadline. The department refused a BASC request for more time in October, leaving respondents fewer than three weeks from that decision to file, which makes the scale of the final response the more striking.

What does BASC say about it?

Dr Conor O’Gorman, BASC head of policy and campaigns, said: “The passion and level of detail in the responses is amazing. We have never seen anything like this for a government call for evidence, which underlines just how important game shooting is for so many people to have taken the time to email Defra their experiences as evidence.”

He thanked “everyone that added their voice in myriad ways”, along with the Time Well Spent group for raising awareness through magazines including Shooting Times and Sporting Gun and their online platforms.

“The shooting community provided deeply personal insights in good faith to Defra for its review,” he said. “They have put their evidence on the record, and the onus is now on Defra to take it on board.”

What happens next

Defra has given no timetable for its analysis of the evidence or any decision that may follow. BASC says it will “continue to hold Defra to account, champion sustainable shooting and argue for an evidence-led, proportionate approach”. The desk will report the department’s response when it comes; submissions from the Moorland Association, Scottish Land & Estates and the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association are already on the record.