Time for licences to curb mass release of pheasant on shooting estates
Scottish Green MSP Lorna Slater will be introducing plans to curb the mass release of pheasants for shooting.
The amendment, which will be proposed this week as part of the Scottish Government’s Natural Environment Bill, would introduce a licensing system for the release of the gamebirds. At present pheasants, although they are tropical birds, not native to Scotland, are exempt from restrictions on the release of non-native species.
According to the RSPB, around 31 million pheasants are released into the UK countryside every year, more than the total biomass of all native bird species put together.
In addition to the sheer number of birds, there are concerns that they eat the eggs of native reptiles and artificially increase the fox population, and there are particular concerns about the spread of avian flu.
Lorna said:
“We should not be releasing 31 million non-native birds into our countryside every year, without license, to be shot for entertainment.
"In a country where nature is so very fragile and damaged, tradition is no excuse for such recklessness.
“We rightly have evidence-based controls for so much of what we do with nature, and it is ridiculous that we don’t even know who is doing this in Scotland, where or when they are doing it or how many birds they are doing it with.
“Licensing would allow us to collect this data and start to measure the impact these tropical birds are having on our native plants and animals.
“Scotland’s countryside is one of our greatest assets. We need to protect it and enhance it, and the best way to do that is to work with our nature and our native species rather than against them.
“The Scottish Government can have no credibility on protecting biodiversity in Scotland until they do something about unlicensed pheasant releases.”