NGO Supports Game Code

25 November 2009

The NGO has given a general welcome to a draft Government code of practice on the rearing of gamebirds in England. The code, which is now out for a period of public consultation and can be viewed via the consultations section of Defra's website, sets out standards for game rearing against which the courts may judge cases brought under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The code itself is not law but if it is approved by Parliament early next year, anyone not following it may be putting themselves at risk of prosecution.

"The text of the draft Government code is based on existing voluntary codes and makes a lot of sense," said a spokesman for the NGO. "Nobody rearing gamebirds properly should have anything to fear but having the code as a legal backstop will help to prevent people doing the job badly and letting everyone else down." 

The NGO will be responding in detail to Government's draft in due course and hopes that its members, and others who rear game, will also look at the code and perhaps send in their own thoughts to Defra. The public consultation closes on 18 January.

The NGO was represented on a working group that met several times over three years to assist Defra to draft the proposed code. The group included other shooting and countryside organisations, the Farm Animal Welfare Council and various animal welfare charities.