DEFRA:! BENYON: CHIEF

[Pothole]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbio...

"Instead of defending the wildlife and biodiversity from pheasant shooting, he appears to see his role as defending pheasant shooting from wildlife and biodiversity. His department is about to spend £375,000 on capturing buzzards and destroying their nests to see whether this reduces their consumption of young pheasants (or poults). The buzzard is a protected species, whose continued survival is one of Benyon's responsibilities."

[escortwagon]

i know quite a few people involved in conservation and some who work within the conservation arms of the government (such as natural england) and it only takes a passing interest in their conversation to be able to understand and agree with the assertions you made in the title, op.
lots of bds in defra

[mrmaggit]

DEFRA- Destroy Every Farm Reared Animal.

[Munter]

mrmaggit said:

DEFRA- Destroy Every Farm Reared Animal.

That would be contrary to the OPs complaint. They are protecting the pheasants, by killing the endangered wild species.

[Sheets Tabuer]

They should ban cars too, they mow down thousands of innocent pheasants each year.

Once again they want to wipe out wildlife for a bit of coin.

[Jasandjules]

Munter said:

That would be contrary to the OPs complaint. They are protecting the pheasants, by killing the endangered wild species.

That would seem to be a pretty clear breach of their obligations would it not?!?! Endangered species are protected by laws!?!?

[Munter]

Jasandjules said:

Munter said:

That would be contrary to the OPs complaint. They are protecting the pheasants, by killing the endangered wild species.

That would seem to be a pretty clear breach of their obligations would it not?!?! Endangered species are protected by laws!?!?

Ah I may have crossed a line by typing the wrong thing there. The story says Protected. I presume that's different to endangered...

Still passing a law to protect a species, and then going around and killing them because someone thinks they might be taking pheasants sounds silly to me.

[CommanderJameson]

If the people who want to shoot the pheasants that are being eaten by buzzards are so bothered, they should come up here - if there are any buzzards hereabouts, the fkers are obviously vegetarian.

[PugwasHDJ80]

no idea why buzzards are still protected- there's almost more buzzrds than pheasants round here, and they are currently out competing red kites!

[UnderTheRadar]

All wild birds are protected apart from a very short list of exceptions, like pidgeons. I'm not sure what the problem is because we have both buzzards and pheasants in our field and we don't even raise pheasants. We also have moles, voles, field mice, baby bunnies etc. Should they be protected from the buzzard too? And then those predatory owls - they'll need to go as well.

[C3BER]

I sort of understand defras angle on this but if you breed more prey then you get more predators. It's a simple concept but goes to pot when it involves money.

[UnderTheRadar]

The article makes a good point which almost gets lost in the hate the rich politics of envy. Our dealings with DEFRA have always been friendly and helpful. The only exception being when we needed an exemption from movement regs to take two lambs to the children's school, which took three attempts. A bit hairy as the children had already been told the lambs were coming and were excited and we got the exemption at the 11th hour. Movement forms in quadruplicate seem a bit out of date though - in fairness we know a farmer who can't read or write let alone use the internet.

[Changedmyname]

mrmaggit said:

DEFRA- Destroy Every Farm Reared Animal.

Indeed, I know only to well.

[mrmaggit]

Munter said:

mrmaggit said:

DEFRA- Destroy Every Farm Reared Animal.

That would be contrary to the OPs complaint. They are protecting the pheasants, by killing the endangered wild species.

Point taken, that was from the foot and mouth time.

For this instance? Destroying Endangered Flying Raptors Anywhere.

I really don't think DEFRA want to see anything alive other than humans, sometimes.

[Getragdogleg]

Ahh, the Department for the Elimination of Farming and Rural Affairs.

Private Eye has a regular countryside column that often reports on the astonishing things DEFRA get up to to waste money, kill things and cause farmers as much hassle, red tape and misery as possible.

[Pothole]

Oh thanks, Mod....makes PERFECT sense now. FFS!