Think before you fire

SAVE SHOOTING NOW’ is the cry from the Countryside Alliance and other shooting organisations after a 12-week consultation on game bird releasing was announced by Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

- James Fisher

The consultation is on a regulatory approach that would allow NRW to monitor where and how many pheasants and red-legged partridges are released. NRW says the approach will ‘put in place an effective, workable and proportionate system that will help the game-shooting sector to operate sustainably’, but shooting organisations such as BASC and the Countryside Alliance say it is ‘the thin end of the wedge’ to ban shooting outright.

The proposals submitted by NRW include a licensing system, similar to an interim one used in England since 2021. It would mean that the releasing of pheasants and red-legged partridges would need a licence. For releases within 500 metres of a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) or a European protected site, a specific licence would have to be applied for, given individual consideration from NRW and issued to a particular person. Releases beyond 500 metres of these sites would be controlled under a general licence, available for anyone to use, provided they comply with its terms and conditions.