The First Shooting Restrictions under New Labour.
New Labour pledged they would not restrict shooting in any way.

On the 2nd March DEFRA announced restrictions they had, without warning or public consultation, imposed on the open General Licenses in relation to shooting Bird Pest Species such as Pigeons and Corvids (crow species).

But then, just a week after being found out and after heavy lobbying from the Countryside Alliance, the Government had to backtrack and amend the open General License to remove the restrictions they had sneaked in without consultation. There will now not be a need to prove that all 'non-lethal' methods had been tried before pest species are shot.

The details are below from our article at the time, and it seems that clumsy attempts to restrict shooting by stealth were quickly reversed by New Labour. Perhaps this had in mind an imminent general election, but who knows what the response would have been if there wasn't !

In future any shooting of pigeons or crows for pest control must be justified against a background of there being no other effective non-lethal means of preventing damage by the species. DEFRA announced that the Open General Licenses "can only be relied upon in circumstances where the authorised person can demonstrate that appropriate non-lethal methods of control such as scaring are either ineffective or impracticable".

In other words, from the 1st March 2005, unless you can show and potentially prove that other, non-lethal methods, of control are ineffective, before you shoot pest species you will have broken the Law. To be certain of this you would potentially need to have used these and be able to show that they have failed. This may, in effect, mean that pigeons and corvids will only be able to be shot in the future over land where scarecrows and gas-guns are present and in use. Shooting pigeons as they come in to roost is another area where there may now be uncertainty. The question is how it can be justified under the terms of the new license as without that it would be illegal !

There is little doubt that the 'animal rights' organisations will seize on this restriction with glee and, following the huge rise in 'sabbing' activity against shoots, many shooters are now concerned that they will be watched and filmed by antis who will then try and bring prosecutions under this new restriction. In the West Country the League against cruel sports is, we are told, already sending monitors out, trying to take videos of anyone shooting. Their intent, we are told, is to try and bring private prosecutions against shooters.

The Animal Welfare Bill is moving forwards and the government pledged that this would not affect shooting. Few can now be in any doubt that that pledge cannot be relied on and that the Bill, if it becomes law in its present form, will be used by some against shooting and also angling .

Anyone who shoots can no longer be in any doubt that this government, with its very close relationships with the 'animal rights' movements, cannot be trusted on shooting and that shooting is now more under threat by stealth. Anglers should now see the writing on the wall.

If you are affected by this restriction don't ignore it :

• Call Your Friends and Neighbours and tell them about it
  
  
• Call your Local Paper Now and tell them:
  • how it will affect your shooting / pest control, tell them
  • it will cost thousands of pounds in crop losses
  • it is ridiculous and another piece of unenforceable legislation like the Hunting Act
  • It plays into the hands of the animal rights movement who have pledged to bring an end to shooting and angling
  • it is another broken pledge by Blair and New Labour, tell them that
  • Anglers will be next
    
    
• Follow that phone call up to your paper with a letter or press release and try and include the names of other local people who will be affected and can comment
  
  
• Call Your Local Radio Station and tell them the same as you have your local paper and why not offer and be prepared to be interviewed !
  
  
• Spread the message far and wide that no country sport or means of pest control is safe from New Labour.
• Why not email this web page or web address to all the contacts in your email address book.

BASC, The British Association of Shooting and Conservation read the new license slightly differently. They place reliance upon the preamble paragraph (see their view here) and that this alters the effect of the wording of the license to mean that this clause has no effect on shooters because of the background knowledge of non-lethal methods which can be cited in defence. As with other legislation from this government the drafting is poor and open to various interpretations which may only be determined by the courts.

We do not share the BASC interpretation that it places no restriction on shooting. Although the preamble recognises that other solutions are ineffective it does not override the clause that the license 'can only be relied upon in circumstances where the authorised person can demonstrate that appropriate non-lethal methods of control such as scaring are either ineffective or impracticable.' Demonstrate means just that, to show it to be the case and our discussions with DEFRA show them to have the view that non-lethal alternatives must be used first to determine if they are ineffective or not. Crow scarers of one sort or another are sold and used across the country leaving a clear argument to those wishing to prosecute that this is an alternative which is found to work. To counter that the only way is to have these alternatives in use and proven as ineffective; and this, in our eyes, places a further restriction on shooting.