On Saturday 24th April, we started our water training, which was disrupted by a protestor! With an accusation that we were breaking the law training our gundogs in close proximity of a wild bird nest.?
I informed the protester that I did not consider we were disturbing the goose, furthermore Canada Geese are considered vermin under a general license for 12 months of the year. This meant I was quite within my rights to shoot the geese, destroy the eggs to prevent crop damage within the terms of the general license, it's worth mentioning also that you do not need to carry a copy of the general license and do not need to prove crop damage.
The complainant tried to no avail to disrupt our training session, which was inconvenient but provided a useful distraction for the gundogs who all behaved very well.
After a short while the protester decided she was wasting her time and disappeared, only to reappear 1 hour later quoting the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 section 1 and she had reported the offence to the police taken our registration numbers.
We just ignored the women and carried on with our training.
On Wednesday 28th April, I received a phone call from Leicestershire Constabulary advising me that a complaint had been received that I and others had been seen disturbing a wild bird on its nest, whilst training our gundogs. I explained to the police officer that Canada Geese are covered by Natural England's General License, and they can be shot at any time of the year, furthermore they are not listed as a protected wild bird, and the eggs could be destroyed under the terms of the general license.
Much to my surprise this police officer who is responsible for wildlife offences was not aware of this fact, although he did appreciate that Canada Geese can be a nuisance and obviously had a duty to investigate the complaint.
Like all good police officers, he did seek to keep the peace and asked me if I would consider not training in the particular lake, whilst the goose was sitting on the nest. I informed him I was not in business of appeasement, especially from an ignorant member of the public. Who did not understand the law, and only wanted to prevent us from training our gundogs because she was anti hunting.
I had no intentions of disturbing the nest and my comments about shooting the pest, although perfectly legal under the terms of the general license, I had no such intention.
I asked the officer to seek advice on the matter from BASC or Natural England, as I did not believe any law had been broken. Within 30 minutes, I received a phone call from the police officer, confirming, what I had said to the protestor was correct.
It is interesting how the police use their resources! it has taken 4 days from receiving the complaint, to investigate the registration number, obtained a name, check the name against their firearm/shotgun records and make further enquiries. If an accurate written statement had been obtained from the complainant, surely a knowledgble officer should have been able to deal with this without investigation ! It this what Mr Cameron WASTE argument is all about?
For the record!
Disturbing any bird included in Schedule 1
Section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 as amended by schedule 12 of the Countryside and Rights of way Act 2000 concerns the protection of wild birds, their nests and eggs. Subsection 1(5) creates the offences of disturbing any wild birds or their young while they are building their nests or while they are near the nest and it contains young or eggs.
1(5) if any person INTENTIONALLY or RECKLESSLY
a. Disturbs any wild bird included in schedule 1 while it is building a nest or is in, on or near a nest containing eggs or young; or
b. Disturbs dependent young of such a bird,
That person shall be guilty of an offence.
For the purpose of this offence 'Any wild bird' means any bird included in Schedule 1.
Canada Geese are not mentioned on Schedule 1 of the above act.
For those interested in reading more about Canada Geese and the requirements under the Natural England's General License a link can be found by following
http://workinggundogs.co.uk/default.aspx
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