Welsh Gamekeepers Look to Welsh Assembly Government for Leadership on Game Rearing Code
13 April 2010
The National Gamekeepers' Organisation (NGO), which represents gamekeepers throughout Wales, has welcomed the Welsh Assembly Government's draft consultation on a new code of practice for rearing pheasants and partridges, calling on the Assembly to endorse it as it stands currently (the consultation closes on 16 April). The NGO has asked AMs to show leadership to country people in Wales and not repeat the legislative mistakes the London Government made last month following a similar consultation in England.
Shooting in Wales supports in the region of 2,500 full-time jobs and generates in excess of £70 million a year for the Welsh economy, according to research*.
Chairman of the NGO's North Wales group David Pooler, a headkeeper, based near Corwen said: "The NGO has given the draft code a big thumbs up as its contents combine solid common sense with the best available animal welfare science from respected bodies like the Farm Animal Welfare Council."
"Anyone with an interest in gamebird welfare doesn't want to see the same mess developing in Wales as happened in England only a few weeks ago. When new clauses were inserted into the legislation at the last-minute the facts were ignored and no new evidence presented to justify the changes. The London Government's tinkering has effectively made parts of the code worthless for upping the welfare of game in England. I wouldn't want to see that shambles happening to our birds in Wales," he added.
The NGO said what had been a useful document for those rearing pheasants and partridges in England had ended up looking plain silly. Mr Pooler said: "For example, one of the last-minute clauses put into the code in England requires new breeding stock to be kept separate from existing birds for the entire duration of the breeding season. How are they to mate? There's just no logic to it. This is why we are looking to our AMs to demonstrate a better understanding of the Welsh countryside."
Brian Hardcastle, who runs the NGO's group in Mid and South Wales, and a headkeeper near Llanwrtyd Wells, said: "We want the Welsh code to be the best it can be and as the draft code stands it's practical and authoritative so it gets our vote. We are optimistic the WAG will adopt a common-sense approach in the review. It'll mean the rearing and welfare of pheasants and partridges in the Welsh countryside will get formal recognition and that must be a good thing all round."
Mr Hardcastle added: "What is often forgotten is that gamekeepers and game farmers need to rear healthy gamebirds, so their welfare has always been a paramount responsibility for them. It is no surprise that a lot of the small print the experts have come up with in the draft consultation reflects much of the voluntary code of practice our members in Wales follow."
Included in the Welsh Assembly's gamebird rearing consultative document is a review of aspects of some egg laying systems used for partridges and pheasants. Here eleventh hour changes to draft legislation in England were some of the most idiotic, said the NGO.
David Pooler commented: "In one instance, instead of opting for simple improvements to gamebird housing - called Option 2 in the draft - as scientists from the Farm Animal Welfare Council had advised, the Westminster Parliament ignored its experts and instead imposed its own arbitrary space allowances that have no basis in science. It's doubly baffling as last year the London Government actually cancelled its own research programme into best practice for breeding partridges before it had even begun!"
Mr Pooler added: "That's why we are calling on the WAG not to short-change the Welsh countryside as London has done in England and to let gamekeepers in Wales have a code of practice that works and which puts gamebird welfare at the top of the agenda."
NOTES TO EDITORS
For further information please contact Julian Murray-Evans at the NGO's media centre in Wales. Tel: 01766 523795 or email: jmurrayevans@btinternet.com
- The WAG consultation has sought views on the draft Code of Practice for the Welfare of Gamebirds Reared for Sporting Purposes. The code of practice covers the time up to the point of release (that is when gamebirds are under the control of man and therefore under the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act 2006). Wales, England and Scotland will each have its own code of practice.
- The code of practice will apply to those farms that rear birds for sporting purposes but not to any establishment that may be farming them for food only.
- Evidence of failure to follow the code could be used in court to support a case of poor welfare.
- *Study carried out by the Cambridge-based specialist economic consultancy practice PACEC - Public and Corporate Economic Consultants - in 2006.
- Please find the NGO's full response to WAG by clicking here.
The National Gamekeepers' Organisation (NGO) represents the gamekeepers of Wales and England. It defends and promotes gamekeeping, gamekeepers and ensures high standards throughout the profession. Founded in 1997 by a group of gamekeepers who felt that their profession was threatened by public misunderstanding and poor representation, it now has more than 14,300 members.
The NGO's patrons are Professor David Bellamy and Alan Titchmarsh.
Cadw'r ddysgl yn wastad / Keeping the Balance