Lots of thanks to Life Peer Natalie Bennett for tabling a concern in the House of Lords about the bird influenza danger presented by the discarding of shot video game birds in the countryside.
This concern was set off by (a) DEFRA Minister and video game bird shooter Lord Benyon’s previous rejection of having actually seen any proof of shot, discarded video game birds, and (b) the discovery of a load of shot pheasants that had actually been discarded in the River Derwent in the Howardian Hills Location of Exceptional Natural Appeal (AONB) on Xmas Day, 2022.
You’ll note that Lord Benyon is no longer declaring lack of knowledge of the proof of shot video game birds being discarded, and let’s be truthful, he could not credibly continue to declare lack of knowledge provided the variety of high profile occurrences that have actually recorded in the last few years (e.g. see list here).
However you’ll likewise discover that he does not acknowledge this is a continuous problem straight connected to the video game shooting market (of which he’s a popular member). Rather, he argues that, “ the occasions that caused the dead pheasants being discovered in the river in the Howardian Hills Location of Exceptional Natural Appeal are unidentified“. I question how he believes they arrived? Or how all the other discarded pheasants, partridges, ducks, geese and so on discovered their method to roadside brinks, forests, rivers and so on, a few of them covered inside bin liners?
He likewise stops working to deal with the concern about the bird influenza danger presented by shot, discarded video game birds, rather going over the [perceived] non-significant danger from wildfowling, driven video game shooting and pigeon shooting activities.
That’s an intriguing position, provided the extensive reporting of bird influenza in pheasants throughout the nation (e.g. see here and here) and the current news that bird influenza has actually been found in foxes and otters in the UK, more than likely from taking in contaminated bird carcasses (here).
We should not actually be amazed however, considered that DEFRA has actually obviously simply provided ministerial clearance to cut the previous 90-day monitoring duration for bird influenza in imported gamebirds from the EU to a minimum 30-day monitoring duration (this implies that following a validated case of bird influenza in the French birds, rather of needing to wait 90 days prior to importing the chicks, UK video game shoot supervisors might just need to wait 1 month). What a self-centered, short-sighted, idiotic concept.
Private detective’s description for this is area on:
