Animal Sentience Committee backs deer and squirrel culling

The Animal Sentience Committee has concluded that the Government gave “sufficient due regard” to animal welfare when it set out how wild deer and grey squirrels should be managed in England, in a report published on 10 November. The committee, which has a statutory duty to assess whether ministers have considered the welfare of sentient animals, accepts that lethal control of both species remains necessary and did not call for any restriction on shooting, but it has asked the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to keep six welfare questions under review, including whether people who shoot deer and squirrels should need formal qualifications.

Which policies did the committee examine?

The report assesses two documents: the grey squirrel policy statement published on 29 January 2026 and the deer impacts policy statement of 6 February 2026, both of which set out how Defra intends to manage the impacts of the two species in England. Three committee members, Anna Meredith, Penny Hawkins and Richard Cooper, led the assessment.

The committee supports the objectives of both policies and found that ministers were informed about the welfare implications of lethal and non-lethal options before deciding. It notes the Government’s position that there is “no evidence to date that suggests that the current welfare policies and guidance are falling short” and that “lethal control currently remains necessary in many locations”.

Where the committee sees an evidence gap

Its central concern is that outcomes such as pain, distress or time to death are not recorded during culling operations, leaving what it calls an evidence gap in detecting and reducing suffering. It also records that there are no statutory minimum qualifications for daytime deer or squirrel control in the open season, with night shooting of deer under class licence CL55 the exception.

From that, the committee makes six recommendations to Defra: keep under review the case for more formal competency or accreditation for deer and grey squirrel control; collect and publish welfare-relevant data where public funding or licensing applies; keep reviewing the humaneness of approved methods and reflect the evidence in guidance, licence conditions and trap approvals; strengthen monitoring of non-target impacts at larger scales; continue developing non-lethal approaches, including fertility control; and review the policies periodically. No deadlines are attached.

What happens next

Defra is expected to respond to the committee’s report, as it does to each assessment, and the deer sector will read the competency recommendation closely: the Deer Stalking Certificate is already widely held and the Government’s venison support is aimed at infrastructure, in the committee’s words, “rather than incentivising culling through bounty-style payments”. For keepers and stalkers the practical message is that recorded evidence of humane practice, from shot placement to trap checks, is becoming the currency in which Whitehall judges wildlife management. The full report can be read on GOV.UK.