A battle on two fronts for game shooting

This week government plans have been announced to target game shooting in England and Wales with further unjustified restrictions. We must all fight back with evidence about our conservation efforts, urges Conor O’Gorman.

Every sustainably run game shoot is a nature reserve that we should be loud and proud about.

These biodiversity hotspots, quietly and diligently managed by thousands of clubs and syndicates across the UK, are not only the best places for nature, but they also cover 20 times the land owned by the RSPB and National Trust.

The combined conservation work carried out by shooters would require the equivalent of 26,000 full-time jobs to match it, that’s significantly more than all the staff employed by Defra, Natural England and Natural Resources Wales.

Unjustified restriction plans

It is frustrating that these agencies, supported by government, seek to relentlessly target game shooting with reviews and consultations to try to justify further restrictions.

On 17 March, the Welsh Labour government announced a plan for an ‘independent call for evidence on gamebird release in Wales’.

On 18 March, the Westminster Labour government announced a plan for ‘evidence gathering’ to ‘explore wider measures such as licensing and any associated conditions for recreational gamebird shooting and release, going beyond current approaches which only apply on or near European protected sites’.

These policy developments are a clear coordinated attack on game shooting on two fronts, and we must collectively ensure that the civil servants fail in their metropolitan ambitions to wipe out game shooting.

Licensing is a ban by default

I appreciate that some folk have been suggesting on social media that licensing shoots or gamebird releasing might be a good move in the long run. Make no mistake, licensing is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, hunting for a ban.

To license something, it must first be made unlawful by default, permitted only when the state allows it. We are already seeing this in England, where licensing around protected sites has created a de facto ban across large areas. Once in place, restrictions can be tightened and permissions reduced, gradually eroding game shooting altogether.

This would be a ban by the back door, with serious consequences for rural jobs, businesses and local economies.

Let's win the battles ahead

Game shooting should be supported and not undermined by ideological viewpoints that are out of line with social, economic and ecological evidence.

Let’s show the antis in government that they have made a massive error in judgement. To win the battles ahead we will need every game shoot small and large in England and Wales to engage in the calls for evidence when they launch.

Conor OGorman

Conor O’Gorman has worked in a variety of conservation, policy and campaigning roles at BASC over the last 20 years. A zoology graduate with a PhD awarded for grey partridge research, he has over 25 years’ experience in conservation and land management.