NEW REPORT URGES BAN ON SHOOTING OF TWO DECLINING SPECIES - SNIPE AND WOODCOCK

A bird of marshland, the snipe is thought to have declined by as much as 87 per cent over the past 25 years

A CALL has come for a ban on the shooting of two declining birds - snipe and woodcock.

Both have long been quarry species for hunters, but authors of a report commissioned by  Green Party MP Caroline Lucas believes the time has come for the shotguns to be silenced.

Says the document: "Both these species are rapidly declining in Britain - snipe down 87 per cent over 25 years and woodcock down 76 per cent.

"While many of the woodcock shot in Britain are winter migrants from other parts of Europe, the species is declining  there too. 

"The same general principle applies to other wild game species covered by the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981, including migrant wildfowl, if there is scientific evidence of a significant decline."

The same document also calls for a ban on the release of non-native game birds into the countryside. 

It states: "Britain currently allows an unlimited number of non-native pheasants and partridges to be released  each year. 

"Numbers have risen from around four million annually in the early 1970s to more than 60 million each year today. 

"This is unsustainable and is damaging native wildlife."

Says the authors: "Hunting and shooting is increasingly rejected by much of our society. 

"The Green Party  is opposed to all hunting and commercially driven shooting. 

"Our position here is  different. Shooting for fun is abhorrent to many people and yet a small but vocal  minority passionately maintains these pastimes.

" We are not seeking to mediate between these two groups or produce a blueprint for an ethical position on wildlife. Instead we seek to identify the best practical 'fix' for nature.

"We observe that if it is not politically possible to ban ‘country sports’ in the near future, this troubled industry requires urgent reform. 

There must be an end to industrial shooting, but we also recognise that, in some circumstances, hunting and shooting lead to land management practices that benefit nature.

"In human-dominated ecosystems, we may also occasionally need to kill certain species to protect other, rarer species."