THE LATEST NEWS FROM LEGAL JUSTICE

 

Non-native gamebird measures from DEFRA: After more than a two-week delay DEFRA has issued its consultation on gamebird releases.  We're reading it carefully and so are some friends of ours.  The consultation is a necessary step in the process of regulating gamebird releases which DEFRA has promised to implement this year as a result of a Wild Justice legal challenge (see here for the results of our legal challenge and see here for the consultation paper).  We will send out a newsletter on 8 or 9 March with our views on the consultation to aid any of you who wish to respond (and we hope you will). 

 

General licences in Wales: we've had useful discussions with Natural Resources Wales about the next steps following the court judgment in January which clarified the strict terms under which killing of certain species is lawful - see here.  Those discussions will continue.

 

Testing Sainsbury's game meat: all three of us have a long-standing interest in the issue of lead ammunition. Lead is a poison and yet it is commonly used to kill species which end up in the human food chain.  Around 6000 tonnes of lead are deposited in the countryside in the form of spent ammunition every year. Non-toxic alternative ammunition is readily available and is mandatory in some other countries and certain parts of the USA. Many game dealers, butchers and supermarkets sell lead-shot game meat without any health warnings.  We have collected samples of game meat from Sainsbury's and these have been sent off for analysis at a laboratory. Read more about what we've done - click here.  We'll let you and Sainsbury's know the results when they become available later in the spring.