A way forward on gamebird welfare

Our Chief Executive yesterday attended a meeting of Defra's Gamebird Working Group, of which we have been a member for some time. Over the last couple of years the Group has been instrumental in the development of the Code of Practice for the Welfare of Gamebirds Reared for Sporting Purposes, which was approved by Defra before the election and which was due to come into force in October.

One of the first things that the new Defra minister, James Paice MP did when apointed - with 'hunting and shooting' a key bullet point in his list of portfolio areas - was to convene a meeting of the Working Group to reconsider some aspects of the Code with which he disagreed; and hence the meeting yesterday.

We went into that meeting with some trepidation, as we'd heard rumours that the Minister wanted to bin the whole thing. But we left the meeting pleased with an outcome which means a redrafted Code will be laid before the Commons in the coming weeks. The redrafted Code - whilst not banning cages as we would prefer - still requires significant improvements in the welfare of gamebirds.

Some blog readers will remember that when the original Code was agreed, the League found itself in a rather unusual alliance with the British Association for Shooting & Conservation (BASC) who also welcomed the Code. The key organisation opposed to it was the Countryside Alliance, hardly surprising given that the Code's main aim is to improve animal welfare; an alien concept to the Alliance. The new centre ground of the revised Code is a step back from us and BASC, and a step forward for the Alliance.

Once the code is in place, we will be keeping a close eye on those game farms to which it applies, and we will expose those who wilfully ignore the new rules.