Research Rethink Will Not Help Buzzards

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The National Gamekeepers' Organisation (NGO) has expressed disappointment that Defra is not proceeding with its original research proposals into non-lethal solutions to the problem of buzzards attacking young pheasants. Serious damage caused by buzzards is not common but where it does occur, losses to the gamebirds can exceptionally reach 30%.

The NGO believes that the Government's change of heart, coming just days before the research was due to start, is the result of misinformation about the plans, put about by bird protectionists.

An NGO Spokesman said:

"In law, people with serious problems caused by buzzards can apply for a licence to control them. The deflection of this research means that such applications will just have to be judged without the benefit of independent scientific advice on possible non-lethal alternatives. It is hard to see how that leaves buzzards better off."

ENDS

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1.The UK buzzard population has increased nearly six-fold in just eleven years, now numbering up to half a million birds.

2.Buzzards are generalist feeders. They sometimes key in on vulnerable young gamebirds, exceptionally causing losses of up to 30% and affecting the viability of important rural businesses.

3.Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, anyone suffering serious damage to livestock, including fish and pheasants, can apply for a licence to control otherwise protected birds. Non-lethal alternatives must have been tried and found to be ineffective first.

4.Licences for the protection of pheasants have never been approved but equivalent licences are routinely issued to allow fisheries managers to kill cormorants in order to protect their fishing businesses. The UK cormorant population is about one twentieth that of the buzzard.