The Field – August 2019

WWW.THEFIELD.CO.UK 15

that the Environment Secretarywas satis-
fiedtherewas‘noothersatisfactorysolution’,
hencehewasissuingtheGeneralLicenceto
allowthebirdsinquestiontobekilled.The
relevantMinister,LordStrathclyde,reassured
a meetingofuncertaincountrysideorganisa-
tions,heldon 14 September1992,thatforall
practicalpurposeseverythingcouldcontinue
justasbefore.I knowthisbecauseI wasthere.
Fora time,indeed,nothingdidchange.
Gamekeepers,farmers,gullcullersinseaside
resortsandpigeonshootersinstubblefields
justcarriedon.Civilservantswrotea paper
fromtimetotimejustifyingtheirMinister’s
satisfactionthattheapproachwasnecessary
andtheEUwashappy.Butovertheyears,
protectionist bodies raised concerns that
birdswerebeingkilledunnecessarilywhere
methodssuchasscaringorproofingmight
perhapsprovidenon-lethalalternatives.
Eventually,BenBradshawMP,theLabour
Minster then responsible, was persuaded to

tweaktheGeneralLicencestoaddressthe

point.(Therewereseveralsuchlicencesby

then because ofdevolution andthe split-

tingofMAFFfromDefra.)Atthenextannual

licence renewal in 2005,a newcondition

wasinserted,requiringthelicence userto

first demonstrate that non-lethal control

wouldnotwork.

The resultant debacle, not dissimi-

lartothisyear’scrisis,becameknownas

the ‘Shoo before you shoot’ scandal but,

happily, it was short-lived. The National

Gamekeepers’ Organisation and the CLA

responded byleadinga concertedcharge

of countryside organisations. Withinnine

daystheMinisterhadbackeddown,with-

drawing the new licences and replacing

them with wording that said the licence

useronlyhadto‘besatisfied’thattherewas

no othersatisfactorysolution,ratherthan

havingtodemonstratethefactinadvance.

Bradshaw was angry about having to make

hisU-turnandchinawassaidtohave been

brokenintheministerialoffice.

The next twist came in 2008, when

the Westminster Government decided to

pass responsibilityforwildlifelicensing to

Natural England. NE is not the country-

side’s best-loved organisation. Itisstaffed

by scientists rather than practitioners, is

weakonmattersoflawandtakesa highly

bureaucratic approach to almost every-

thing. Conspiracists also believeit has an

inbuilt anti-shooting bias,a view perhaps

enhanced by a consultationletter that NE

issued inadvanceoftaking overlicensing

that spoke of using the General Licences,

“todeliverNE’sstrategicobjectives”andto

gain,“outcomesNEwishestoachieve”.Bear

in mind, too,that therehave longbeen–

andcontinuetobe– verycloseassociations

betweenseniorstaffinNEand their friends

inbodiessuchastheRSPB.

Whateverthecause,at eachannualrenewal

of the General Licences thereafter, NE

A 2005 condition became known as

the ‘Shoo before you shoot’ scandal

OPENINGSHOTS

COMMENT

Aboveleft:anylackofwoodpigeoncontrolputs

cropsatrisk.Above:thetraditionaltimetobegin

rook control is 12 May – but not this year