Grouse rearing?

Rumour has it that someone somewhere has cracked the problem of rearing and releasing red grouse. Fascinating stuff - if anyone can give me a lead I'd really like to follow it up for an article in the magazine.

Battery cage winners and losers

So, DEFRA has released its Code of Practice for the Welfare of Gamebirds Reared for Sporting Purposes, which is laid before Parliament and will sit for 40 days before coming into effect (not counting days off for the election, recess, etc). Even then it's not 'law' as such - but it will be used as a stick to beat game farms who don't follow the new rules.

Basically, BASC won. They got the wording they wanted - indeed it looks like they wrote most of it - and their release today 'welcomes' the new code with its clauses setting out the minimum space per bird in laying cages. They are at pains to point out that "Traditional pheasant laying pens, partridge pair boxes or raised cages can continue to be used if they provide at least the specified minimum spaces per bird."

So all is wonderful, no? No. A consortium of other organisations are kicking up one hell of a fuss, because they didn't get their way. "Last Minute Changes Make Gamebird Code an Unworkable Mess" screams the Game Farmers' Association, complaining that changes had been made "in secret" (in collusion with BASC?). The GFA proceeds to attack the new code phrase by phrase, with chairman Jonathan Crow predicting "chaos for the industry".

The National Gamekeepers' Organisation, Countryside Alliance and Country Landowners Association swiftly followed with their condemnations of the new draft. (Slightly slow off the mark, the GWCT have now come out against the new code too, calling it a "missed opportunity".)

And, hilariously, both LACS and Animal Aid put out triumphant press releases claiming a victory for animal rights. Animal Aid are even suggesting it was all their own work!

Meanwhile, in a field in Shootingshire, a pheasant said: "No comment. Now clear off, I've got these hens to see to."

Shooters write: "Dear DEFRA, please don't listen to BASC"

BASC's uncompromising stance on cage systems for game birds has certainly polarised the shooting community - to the point where BASC members are writing to DEFRA to tell them 'BASC don't speak on my behalf'.

An email currently circulating is headed 'Please read and respond if you wish your sport to have a future'. It provides suggested text for shooters to email DEFRA:

helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk

Fao Jim Fitzpatrick; as a lifelong Member of the B.A.S.C. I find myself having to contact you to ask you to ignore their representations on my behalf to ban the above systems.

I would also ask you to support the status quo at least until fuller research and consultations have been made. I would point out that presently I am giving serious consideration on whether I continue to support B.A.S.C. who have acted entirely without consultation, it appears as if the organisation has been hijacked by an individual with a particular opinion.

Whatever your view on cage systems, the row must be giving the antis a good laugh as they watch us shoot each other in the foot.

Cage fighting

There's a right row brewing between BASC and the other shooting organisations, and no mistake.

It's all over the consultation on DEFRA's draft Code of Practice for the Welfare of Game Birds.

The GFA, NGO, GWCT, CLA, CA and NFU are all backing 'Option 2' which calls for all 'raised units' to be enriched, and would ban barren cages.

BASC is backing 'Option 3' of banning cages full stop - placing it in the same camp as rabid anti-shooting organisations Animal Aid and the League Against Cruel Sports.

It's not the first time I've seen BASC taking a counter-intuitive line like this. I do wonder whether they have some vision of shooting's longer-term future that they haven't got round to sharing with the rest of us?

UPDATE: There's a heated discussion going on at the Pigeon Watch forums here...