A new crowdfunded campaign is challenging in court the industry's plans to release an estimated 50 million non-native pheasants and partridges into the British countryside each year. The campaign itself is led by Wild Justice (a group led by environmentalists Mark Avery, Ruth Tingay and Chris Packham). They believe that the government should be forced to carry out multiple environmental assessments of the impact of the release of game birds into the wild - in failing to carry out such studies, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is then in breach of Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats of wild fauna and flora.
Avery said: "If you were building a supermarket near a special area of conservation or other protected area, it would be assessed for its impact on protected sites. There is reasonable evidence that these birds could be having an impact. People forget that pheasants go around gobbling up adders, lizards and all sorts of invertebrates. This is a serious legal challenge and we hope to get people talking about pheasant shooting for months to come."
This legal action comes after new research has revealed a link between pheasant shoots and higher numbers of avian predators (like crows and buzzards). Where other European countries release far fewer birds, 50 million is viewed as an extensive amount. In comparison - the Spanish countryside only sees 3 million captive-reared birds being released.
They have sent a letter to notify DEFRA of its intention to take action and is looking to get £44,500 for a judicial review of their failure to assess the impact of releasing and shooting non-native game birds. It shows Wild Justice's successful challenge to the government's system of "General Licences" that allowed people to freely shoot certain "pest species" of bird - Natural England removed them after Wild Justice argued they were illegal. New temporary licences allowing restricted killing to take place have been issued since.
