New move to ban shooting of hares in breeding season

Experts warn numbers are collapsing as 300,000 are killed for sport every year

Jamie Doward

Sun 5 May 2019 06.00 BST

The nation’s deep affection for the hare, once a common sight in fields, is recorded in prose, pub names and poetry. Writers including Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll and Ted Hughes have paid tribute to the UK’s fastest land mammal, while any English county will boast at least one pub with the word hare in its name. But now a failure to revive numbers after a century of decline from an estimated four million to under 800,000 has triggered moves to protect hares during their breeding season.

Former agriculture minister George Eustice is introducing a private member’s bill that would make it illegal to shoot hares from February to September. “England and Wales are among the few remaining European countries that do not have a modern close season on shooting hares during their breeding season, which is a terrible oversight,” Eustice said.

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Shooting deaths of sea otters in California prompt investigation

Bodies of four male sea otters, a federally protected animal whose killing can be punishable with jail time, washed up on beaches over course of eight days

Julia Carrie Wong in San Francisco

Wednesday 31 August 2016 21.59 BSTLast modified on Wednesday 31 August 201622.35 BST

Federal and state officials are investigating the shooting deaths of California sea otters, after the bodies of four male otters were found washed up on beaches near Santa Cruz.

On Monday, the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for killing three sea otters that were found between 12-19 August.

A fourth otter carcass was discovered on 20 August with a suspected gunshot wound, Ashley Spratt of the Fish and Wildlife Service said on Wednesday.

“Finding several gunshot sea otters at the same general location during such a short time frame is very unusual,” said Spratt.

“We don’t know why these otters were shot, but what’s important to note is that killing or harassing federally protected wildlife is a crime.”

Sea otters are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, California state law and the Endangered Species Act. Killing a sea otter is punishable by fines up to $100,000 and could result in a jail sentence.

Sea otters were once widespread along the Pacific coast, but the mammals were hunted almost to extinction for their pelts during the 18th and 19th centuries.

In 1977, California’s remaining sea otters were listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.

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New rules for brown hare management drawn up by shooting lobby - Ignoring conservation issues

Government gives green light to shooters & landowners to decide future protection of hares in England

April 2013. A new code of practice for the management of brown hare populations in England has been published. The new code has been written by the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) and the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT). It is supported by the Tenant Farmers' Association, the National Gamekeepers' Organisation, the Moorland Association, the Country Land and Business Association and the Countryside Alliance.

Wildlife organisations have reacted with shock and frustration after guidelines for the management - and shooting - of hares were published without any discussion of a potential ‘close-season'. A Code of Practice for brown hare management in England has been drawn up by the British Association for Shooting & Conservation (BASC), but a coalition of animal welfare groups claim that it fails to give hares even the minimal protection given to other ‘game' species.

Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust
Mike Swan, head of education at the GWCT, said: "The GWCT has been at the forefront of research on hares for over 20 years and managed to achieve a ten-fold population increase on its own research farm over three years. We welcome this new code for brown hare management. The hare is a wonderful animal and this advice reconciles the needs of hare conservation and crop protection in a pragmatic, humane and flexible way."

Glynn Evans, BASC's head of game and gamekeeping, said: "Everyone wants to see a thriving hare population but in areas where conservation and conditions favour hares, they can become a threat to the production of food. This code sets out practical advice for humane control."

Unsustainable hunting
Care for the Wild, the Humane Society International, Blue Hare, and the Hare Preservation Trust are concerned that the current tally of around 350,000 hares hunted each year out of a national population of 750,000 is leading to dangerously reduced numbers in many parts of the country.

Philip Mansbridge, CEO of Care for the Wild, said: "I think people would be shocked to know that the people who shoot hares are the ones who get to decide on whether or not there should be a close-season. The government needs to step in, involve wildlife organisations to get some balance, and give these animals a break."

Chris Packham
The call for a close-season has been backed by BBC Springwatch presenter Chris Packham. In a recent interview with Philip Mansbridge, he described the lack of a close-season as: "Disgusting. It's out of date, it's irresponsible and it's immoral.

"This is an embarrassment for the UK. I wish you the greatest success with this and I'm sure most people would. It's outrageous," he added.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/hare-conservation013.html

US government sanctions slaughter of wolves in Wyoming

Wyoming wolves lose federal protection, will be shot on sight across most of state

September 2012. US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has announced that gray wolves in Wyoming will be taken off the endangered species list - a death sentence for a majority of the animals, which will now be managed under a state plan that delineates more than 80 percent of Wyoming as a "predator zone" where wolves can be shot on sight. In the remainder of the state, excluding Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, wolves will be designated a "trophy game animal" and hunted in large numbers, with the goal of reducing the population from about 270 wolves to 100.

In response to this decision, the Center for Biological Diversity joined a coalition of environmental groups in filing a notice of intent to sue the federal government for stripping away Endangered Species Act protections from Wyoming's wolves.

Slaughter
"Taking federal protection away from Wyoming's wolves will bring the same kind of senseless slaughter that first drove them to the brink of extinction in the lower 48," said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity, which has worked to protect western wolves for nearly a quarter-century. "Blatantly ignoring science and sanctioning the extermination of these beautiful and intelligent animals is a travesty. We're going to sue to protect these wolves."

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/wyoming-wolf-hunt.html#cr

European BirdLife Partners take action against European bird crime

Across Europe, birds suffer from a wide range of persecution: illegal poisoning, shooting, trapping, and the theft of chicks for the bird trade are common practices. Recently, five European countries were confronted with cases of illegal killing. The common, even if illegal, practice of using poison baits to eradicate carnivores and rodents causes huge damage to wildlife as well as to livestock and crops. In some cases it can explain the decline of specific bird populations in Europe. Moreover, the poisons used are usually unnecessarily strong and often illegal.

The BirdLife Partners in Hungary, Greece, Cyprus, France and Malta have s taken different types of measures to halt illegal killing of bird practices and to limit their damages on biodiversity. 

In Hungary, illegal killing of birds threatens rare majestic birds

Over the last decade in Hungary, more than a thousand protected birds have been poisoned including White-tailed Eagles, Saker Falcons, and Common Buzzards. More birds have been, and are still, the victims of other illegal practices such as trapping or shooting.

MME (BirdLife in Hungary) has just begun the coordination of a new Life+ project (co-financed by the EU) in cooperation with eight other organisations, aimed at supporting the slow growth of the Eastern Imperial Eagle population in Hungary, and more widely, at finding solutions to control illegal hunting of birds.

Continued:  http://www.birdlife.org/community/2012/06/european-birdlife-partners-take-action-against-european-bird-crime/