Christmas has indeed come early this year.
No, I am not talking about the development and licensing of Coronavirus vaccines, as welcome as this most certainly is.
I am talking about 4 massive victories for wildlife and the environment following a huge amount of lobbying and campaigning by conservation organisations and individuals.
Licensing of driven grouse shooting in Scotland
I have previously written in this blog ….
“Grouse moors are a complete anachronism of times past. This highly intensive and destructive land management regime subsidised by taxpayers and undertaken by a few wealthy landowners is designed to allow a few other wealthy people to shoot Red Grouse purely for "fun".
Killing Red Grouse for “fun” or as a “sport” is appalling in its own right. That is even before we get started on the persecution and killing of other wildlife and so many adverse environmental impacts such as habitat destruction, escalation of flood risk, lead poisoning and the uncontrolled burning leading to the loss of biodiversity and the release of carbon emissions which contribute to the climate emergency.
This disgusting “hobby” for a wealthy few needs to be made illegal and with it the outrageous killing of legally protected wildlife and the damage to our fragile upland habitats and ecosystems.
Personally, like many other people across the UK, I would like to see a complete ban on driven grouse shooting across the whole of the UK and replaced by an alternative.”
See …. here and here and here and here
On 26th November 2020, at least (at last) the Scottish Government have finally decided to take some action. Scottish grouse moors will now be controlled by a strict licensing regime. Mairi Gougeon, an Environment Minister, has said that work on drafting new legislation would start immediately, 5 years earlier than recommended by an expert review into the regulation of grouse moors led by Professor Alan Werritty last year.
Mairi Gougeon said self-regulation by the grouse shooting
industry had failed, as had the Government’s own attempts to suppress illegal persecution
and killing of birds of prey and other wildlife, including making grouse moor owners vicariously
liable for the actions of their employees.
Licensing is not the outright ban that I would like to see
but at least it is a start and the Scottish Government deserves much credit
unlike the Westminster Government which shows no intention at all of dealing
with the appalling criminality and other adverse impacts of driven grouse
shooting in northern England.
Grouse shooting to require licence in Scotland | UK news | The Guardian
Banning the unlicensed killing of Mountain Hares in Scotland
The Mountain Hare is the UK’s only native hare species and it may have been here since the last Ice Age. A report published in 2018 said the number of Mountain Hares on moorland in the eastern Highlands is at less than 1% of their levels in the 1950s. The Mountain Hare is just one of the wildlife species that is persecuted and killed in huge numbers due to intensive driven grouse moor management.
In June 2020, following an amendment to
the Wildlife and Countryside Act from
Scottish Green MSP Alison Johnstone, the Scottish Parliament voted to ban the unlicensed mass culling of Mountain Hares by
gamekeepers and grouse moor owners and designate them as a protected species.
The new legislation will make it an offence to intentionally or
recklessly kill or injure the Mountain Hare without a licence.
In recent weeks, the Scottish
Government have confirmed that the new regulations will come in to effect in
March 2021. Whilst this allows for another open hunting season to take place, at least a ban will now be introduced.
Scotland to ban mass culling of mountain hares | Environment | The Guardian
Temporary banning (at the moment) of trail hunting
Following an ITV News broadcast on 25th November 2020 (see here), trail hunting of Red Foxes has been banned on land owned and managed by the National Trust, Forestry England, Natural Resources Wales, the Lake District National Park and United Utilities whilst investigations by the Police in to criminal activity in breach of the Hunting Act 2004 continue. This effectively means that 1.8 million acres of UK land have been put out of bounds to trail hunters. Pressure is still mounting on other large land owners including the Ministry of Defence, the Duchy of Cornwall and the Church of England to also withdraw licences for trail hunting.
Banning the use of lead shot in wetland hunting in the EU
Lead has been used in ammunition and fishing tackle for decades despite scientific evidence of the terrible impact it has on humans, domestic animals, wildlife and nature generally. Lead is one of the most toxic substances on earth and, although it was removed from paint and fuel decades ago, the powerful ammunitions industry has proven resilient to change.
Lead shot, favoured by many hunters as ammunition, consists of many tiny
bullets which are sprayed out of the rifle as opposed to shooting just one
bullet. Because of this, only a small proportion of the lead fired hits its
target whilst the remainder is scattered in the environment. It is estimated
that between 20000 and 30000 tonnes of lead is dispersed into the EU
environment each year.
Lead shot is commonly ingested by wetland birds who tragically confuse it for the pebbles they use for digestion and the seeds they eat. The
European Chemicals Agency estimates this results in the death of over 1 million
wetland birds annually.
On 25th November 2020, the EU (remember them?) through the
European Parliament voted to ban the use of lead ammunition in wetlands across
the EU. The ban will ensure that any wetland
birds are shot with non-toxic steel ammunition.
Although Denmark outlawed lead shot in 1996, most other EU nations still continue to use it. In the UK, a coalition of shooting groups earlier this year pledged to move to non-toxic alternatives within the next 5 years. In England, the use of lead shot is banned for the shooting of all ducks and geese and on foreshores and other sensitive sites such as SSSIs but campaigners say compliance is poor and research has found that more than 70% of ducks are still shot with lead.
If the new EU regulations come into force before the end of the
Brexit transition period on 31st December 2020, they will also become
UK law. This would also compel some grouse moor owners to use non-toxic
ammunition because certain grouse moors are peatlands and are classified as
wetlands according to the EU definition. If the EU
regulations do not come into force before the Brexit transition period ends,
the UK will not be compelled to adopt it but Government sources say it supports
the principle of addressing the impact of lead shot. We will soon see!
EU
to ban use of lead shot by wetland bird hunters | Environment | The Guardian
Hopefully 2021 will see the UK and the world emerge from the Coronavirus nightmare, build a greener future and see yet more positive steps in protecting and conserving our wildlife and the environment.
No comments:
Post a Comment
If you feel like commenting on my blog, you can contact me by completing the comment form below. I will respond to all comments and enquiries and constructive criticism will always be welcomed.