The coalition government has performed another embarrassing u-turn on plans to destroy buzzard nests in order to protect pheasant shoots. The controversial proposals which involved spending £375,000 of public money on controlling birds of prey have now been shelved.
Joe Duckworth, Chief Executive of the League Against Cruel Sports said: “This is yet another example of the coalition proving how out of touch it is with public opinion. How these plans made it off the drawing board is beyond me but to think the general public would support spending hundreds of thousands of pounds destroying a native bird species to protect a non native bird reared for shooting purposes is ludicrous”.
The Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs said the decision was taken ”in light of public concerns expressed in recent days”. It came to light following the announcement that documents produced by the government acknowledged that it was actually unknown how many pheasant chicks were taken by buzzards and the decision was based on anecdotal evidence.
Mr Duckworth added: “It is a huge relief that this ridiculous decision has been overturned but one can only wonder what madness will come next from the department supposedly tasked with protecting our rural environment.”
DEFRA has confirmed it will look at developing new research on buzzards before a
further decision is taken…