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Buzzard Persecution Trial to be sponsored by DEFRA (2 Viewers)

Farnboro John said:
If pheasants are livestock are they subject to all the legislation that applies to keeping chickens? And if they are not livestock but wild animals, how can their constant release be justified given that they are non-native?

Incidentally I heard some years ago from a landowner in North West Scotland that he believed a local decline in Black Grouse was due to greedy shooter landowners causing a reservoir of avian disease by running too many pheasants on the landscape. An interesting take on the subject.

John
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As someone who has had a pheasant fly into our car, its like being hit by a canon ball, if they really are livestock then would the insurance company's not be able to then pursue the shooting estates for compensation.
 
flossiepip said:
As someone who has had a pheasant fly into our car, it's like being hit by a canon ball, if they really are livestock then would the insurance companies not be able to then pursue the shooting estates for compensation.
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Flossiepip,
Like you, I've had a vehicle/wildlife interaction - my windscreen took a DH from an introduced adult male pheasant - but I don't recall any cleric being involved, just the non-denominational Autoglass man...:-O
MJB
 
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While I wrote to Defra pointing out what a stupid idea the buzzard removal study was and can only condem any buzzard control measures we must not lose sight that conservation owes the shooting comunity a great debt. Were it not for the pheasant many of our woodlands would not exist today and many of the more recent ones would have never been planted. In moderation game rearing is of benifit to our bio diversity. As long as the farmer is getting a rent for the shooting rights he is quite happy to keep the woodlands that so many species of the UK wildlife depend upon , but take the shooting rent away and many woods will be felled and the ground growing crops.

But note I said game rearing in moderation. Once the ground becomes overstocked then invertebrates and wildflowers will start to decline. I can see no problem with the release of a few hundred pheasants on a farm , but when the release starts to run into the thousands its a very different story. We have a lot to thank the pheasant for , but its all a question of balance.
 
Tideliner said:
But note I said game rearing in moderation. Once the ground becomes overstocked then invertebrates and wildflowers will start to decline. I can see no problem with the release of a few hundred pheasants on a farm , but when the release starts to run into the thousands its a very different story. We have a lot to thank the pheasant for , but its all a question of balance.
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Perhaps DEFRA can be persuaded to fund a study into the effects of Pheasant releases on native wildlife?;)

They may have a responsibility to protect rural businesses from wildlife that causes 'conflict with human interests', but they also have a responsibility to monitor (and act on) any effects that these businesses might be having on wildlife and the environment.
 
Transparency ? I think not.

Conflict of Interests ? Most defintely.

Austere times and we're all this together. Your'e having a laugh. Here's a man who thinks it's acceptable to dip into our taxes to follow up a wild lead for his own interests.

I'm no socialist but vote these guys out at the earliest opportunity - their attitude towards our Environment is worrying.
 
I have the answer! Put the pheasant pens in the towns, buzzards won't be an issue but bloody cats will. Perhaps then the government will at last persecute these menaces and do everyone a favour!
 
Tideliner said:
While I wrote to Defra pointing out what a stupid idea the buzzard removal study was and can only condem any buzzard control measures we must not lose sight that conservation owes the shooting comunity a great debt. Were it not for the pheasant many of our woodlands would not exist today and many of the more recent ones would have never been planted. In moderation game rearing is of benifit to our bio diversity. As long as the farmer is getting a rent for the shooting rights he is quite happy to keep the woodlands that so many species of the UK wildlife depend upon , but take the shooting rent away and many woods will be felled and the ground growing crops.

But note I said game rearing in moderation. Once the ground becomes overstocked then invertebrates and wildflowers will start to decline. I can see no problem with the release of a few hundred pheasants on a farm , but when the release starts to run into the thousands its a very different story. We have a lot to thank the pheasant for , but its all a question of balance.
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If this was facebook I'd like this. Spot on Tideliner.

dave...
 
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