Review of General Licence for Wildlife Reveals New Rules for 2010
12th March 2010
Following an extensive public consultation with various organisations and individuals, changes have been announced to the ‘General Licences’ for wildlife.
‘General Licences’ enable people to carry out bird control affecting bird species that would be unlawful under wildlife legislation but which are deemed necessary in order to prevent public health and safety problems, damage to crops or disruption to native wildlife. Reviews of the licences are carried out to ensure that they tackle changing circumstances such as the increasing impact of non-native species and that they remain relevant to today’s wildlife management and conservation issues.
Amongst the changes announced for England are:
- Several non-native bird species that breed in the wild - including monk parakeets, ring-necked parakeets, Canada geese and Egyptian geese - will be added to licences so their numbers can be controlled
- Ring-necked and monk parakeet will be added to the licence for preventing serious damage to crops. Monk parakeet will also be added to the licence for preserving public health or public safety
- Two native gull species – the herring gull and the greater black-backed gull - will be removed from some licences due to conservation concerns about their population numbers. Great black-backed gull will only be listed on the air safety licence, while the herring gull will be listed on the air safety licence and for egg and nest destruction only, on the public health and public safety licence.
- The trapping and release of house sparrow, starling, robin and blackbird will be included on a new public health and public safety licence available to food production and handling premises.
- Licences for the sale of live and dead birds will be consolidated so that there is only one licence each. Ringing requirements will remain unchanged at present.
- A reduction in the number of species for which individual sales licences must be sought. In most cases, simply regulating sales of legally held captive-bred specimens will not help address the problems caused by invasive non-native species.
- Individual licences will continue to be needed for sales of dead barnacle goose and white-fronted goose (Greenland race).
All Licences include additional guidance referring companies and organisations to their obligations in respect to protected sites. General Licences are an important tool to responsibly manage wildlife and the changes will ensure that licences can be effectively targeted at current conservation challenges and can operate without excessive bureaucracy. The changes to the General Licences came into force on 1 January 2010.
Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland all have variations to the ‘General Licence’ specific to the wildlife management requirements in their particular area. If you have any queries, your area manager can provide advice and assistance with any bird problems.
