Press Reports
FOI Letter
Predator Breeding and Release
In a letter sent to the Ministers for the Environment in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, SBS asked for more information under the Freedom of Information Act regarding the breeding and relase of predators in the British Isles.
Lord Rotherwick also took up the question in the House of Lords on behalf of SBS. SBS believes it was only in response to his questions that SBS received adequate replies. Click here to view the Lords Hansard of this discussion.
The letter:
Rt Hon David Miliband MP
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
DEFRA
Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London
SW1P 3JR
12 December 2007
Dear Minister
Freedom of Information Act – The Release and Captive Breeding of Avian Predator Species in the UK Countryside
We refer to the following species of avian raptors:
The Red Kite (Milvus milvus)
The White Tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla)
The Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)
The Goshawk (Accipter gentilis)
The Golden Eagle (Aquila Chrysaetos)
The Lanner (Falco biamicus)
The Merlin (Falco columbarius)
The Peregrine (Falco peregrinus)
The Harris’ Hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus)
The British Falconers Club has a responsible and regulated role in the captive breeding of raptor species (nowadays using artificial insemination and incubation.) Licenses are applied for and granted under your control. Displays of raptor flying at country events are educational and beneficial for the general public.
The ongoing release of adult/juvenile raptors of the species listed above into many areas of the UK is of interest to our members. Under the Freedom of Information Act we would therefore address the following questions to you:
1. How many of each species have been released under licence in the past 25years?
2. To whom were the licences issued for release?
3. Were the parties who released the birds also the organisation that bred them under licence?
4. How many importations and species numbers of adult/juvenile birds have taken place, from what country of origin and when?
5. Were quarantine conditions strictly enforced and controlled by the State Veterinary Service?
6. Which departments of your ministry were authorised to issue licences and did they keep your officials fully informed at all stages? How much public money was used to affect the release and captive breeding for release into the wild?
7. When releases took place, was there consultation, not just with the landowner of the release point, but other land-managers in the area?
8. Have responsibilities for release programmes been ‘sub-contracted’ to NGO’s and which?
9. When releases of artificially bred raptors are licenced, are proper surveys conducted to establish that adequate supplies of prey/wildfood available, and under what authorised conditions is artificial feeding allowed and for how long after release?
10. When releases of artificially bred raptors are authorised were vulnerable prey species (i.e. the red squirrel on the danger list of mammals) taken into account (the red squirrel is the favourite prey of goshawks) in the context of an Environmental Impact Assessment, which is normal practice?
Clearly the situation in Scotland is separate to that in England/Wales and the Scottish Executive and its agencies have their own programmes and policies. Even in Wales the Countryside Commission for Wales may be separately involved with release programmes. This needs clarifying. The ultimate advisory body for all these releases may well be the Joint Nature conservation Committee who you may need to consult.
We have sent this letter to the respective Ministers in Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland we are aware of releases of golden Eagles in neighbouring Donegal. We believe that 30 Eagles have been released and want to know how and from where their birds were acquired/bred if it was from the UK.
We would be most grateful for your detailed response to our questions.
Yours sincerely
Keith McDougall
Director
c.c. Ross Finnie MSP, Minister for Environment and Rural Development, Scotland
Carwyn Jones AM, Minister for Environment, Planning & Counryside, Wales
David Cairns Minister for the Environment, Northern Ireland
Replies:
There have been received (at varying levels of promptitude) from all of the offices of state. To summarise them one has to suspect that the absolute minimum of detail was forthcoming.
Basically the little detail received amounts to the following:
1. White Tailed Eagles have been bred and released under licence in Scotland (and initially imported from Norway.) New plans exist to release (several hundred) in East Anglia and Ireland.
2. 30 golden Eaglets have been pillaged from Scottish nests, reared and released in Donegal – under licence from SNH and, hopefully, with permission from landowners.
3. Over Red Kites have been released in England and Scotland of which have been imported from Scandinavia and Spain. This release has been managed with the help of the RSPB.
4. No Goshawks release programmes have been licensed – and falconers are ‘mentioned’. (Many will wonder at this claim!)
5. There are no admissions of Buzzard releases or captive breeding (though numbers have increased by 300%!)
6. Peregrines are referred to as having been ‘imported’ and released in small numbers (but the interpretation is from private breeders in the UK from stock imported.)
7. No admission from any department of proper ‘Environmental Impact Assessments’ are evident from the replies for any species.
8. No financial details are provided as to what public funds have been expended in any of the release programmes.
9. Ospreys are being widely released outside Scotland (Rutland water etc.)
Conclusions:
All in all the replies are fairly evasive and minimal in detail. One would expect more from one’s own government!
SBS continues to believe that raptor releases have been going on over the past 30years clandestinely and without proper authorisations.
We are not intrinsically against careful release of some species which can be regarded as no threat to biodiversity. But there is a ‘sub-culture’ of activity and lack of openness driven by an exaggerated idea that raptor numbers are of little impact – when we know they can be highly detrimental to some prey populations.
Whilst Red Kites are primarily ‘scavengers’ – could their habits change if their numbers build up enormously? Can this apply to Sea Eagles or other predators? Goshawks are already accused of attacking Kestrels and are indiscriminate killers; Red Squirrels being a favourite prey. This is a serious issue.
More information on Red Kite re-introductions can be found at: www.northernkites.org.uk
Associated File: Click here to download
Date Added: April 11th 2007