Last Minute Changes Make Game Code "An Unworkable Mess"
Monday 15 March 2010
A long-awaited Government Code of Practice for the Welfare of Gamebirds Reared for Sporting Purposes was laid before Parliament today but immediately condemned as ‘unworkable’ by the industry’s main representative body, the Game Farmers’ Association.
The GFA said that last minute changes made by the Government in secret had turned an otherwise welcome and useful code into “an unworkable mess”, and the Association called on the Minister, Jim Fitzpatrick, to withdraw the code until it can be made fit for purpose.
Among changes added to the code at the last minute and without consultation are that:
- Any incoming adult birds, including those caught up from the wild, should “be kept separate from existing stock for the duration of the breeding season.” This makes the common and necessary practice of refreshing a laying flock with new blood from elsewhere impossible. The draft code, on which the Government recently consulted, had instead recommended a sensible quarantine period of 30 days.
- “Birds should be checked at least twice daily for signs of disease or injury and more frequently during the breeding and rearing period.” The draft code had recommended once a day outside the rearing period, which is perfectly adequate for overwintering birds and those confined in release pens. No justification has been given for doubling workloads in this way without consultation or impact assessment.
- “Management devices that do not allow birds to fully express their range of normal behaviours,” are now said to include bits, which were shown last year by Defra-funded research to be a vital tool for avoiding welfare problems arising from feather-pecking. The code now says they, “should not be considered as routine and keepers should work towards the ideal of management systems that do not require these devices.” Previous drafts had said that, used with care, bits were a justifiable means of preventing injurious behaviour.
- “All laying systems for pheasants should provide a minimum space of 1 square metre per bird.” This new requirement is believed to be an attempt to do away with raised laying units, which at this density would become impractically large. One square metre per bird, however, is insufficient for pheasants kept on the ground. Most ground-based pens at these densities would become heavily soiled and the birds prone to disease and welfare problems, yet the code would seem to support that.
- “All laying systems for partridges should provide: 0.5 square metres per bird for grey partridges; and 0.29 square metres per bird for redleg partridges.” This is thought to be an attempt to ‘save’ traditional partridge boxes whilst restricting modern raised laying units but it makes a complete nonsense of the whole issue. The sizes given for partridges are not even stated as a minimum, so if a partridge system is either smaller or larger than the exact size quoted, there is a risk of prosecution. Earlier drafts of the code had deliberately avoided giving space allowances, not least for this very reason. Last year the Government cancelled its own research into best practice for partridge breeding units before it had even begun, yet the Minister now feels able specify how much space a bird needs to within two decimal places.
The GFA’s Chairman, Jonathan Crow said:
“The Government’s code, as now laid, will spell chaos for the industry unless it can be changed. The changes added at the last minute and which only became public today have turned it into an unworkable mess. The code must now be withdrawn and re-worked – a process with which we will be happy to help. Believe it or not, there is still a really good document lurking just below the surface here but the rubbish added by the Government without consultation in the last few days has to be stripped out or next year’s rearing season will be bedlam.”
Other organisations represented on Defra’s Gamebird Working Group, set up in 2007 to draft the code but disbanded by Mr Fitzpatrick last September, were equally angry:
Chris Davis, a specialist vet with The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, said that the space allowances could be ‘disastrous’ for gamebird welfare: “One only needs to imagine a pair of partridges kept for any length of time in a metre square pen on grass to think of the problems.”
Stephen Lister, another gamebird vet, then chairman of a Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) investigation of game rearing which reported to Defra in 2008, said: “The emergence of space allowances is particularly confusing, especially as this was not a feature of any of the options in the consultation document. I am not aware of the science on pheasant space requirements, nor why grey partridges need something so different to redlegs. There is so much that is good about this Code but the last minute changes have undone much of it.”
The Country Land and Business Association’s representative, said, “I cannot understand how Defra can ask stakeholders to comment on a draft, come to a unanimous position, with external expert evidence from FAWC and then significantly change the code from what was agreed. We want better welfare, not problems driven by inappropriate regulation.”The Countryside Alliance and the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation were also furious about the late changes and pledged to do all they could to get the code changed. “Every organisation that supports British game rearing must now stand up and call for this flawed code to be withdrawn and reconsidered,” said Lindsay Waddell, the NGO Chairman.
Notes
1. Parliament cannot change the detail in the code at this stage. If it is not withdrawn by the Minister, or annulled in its entirety by Parliament during the next 40 sitting days, the code will automatically be approved or ‘made’. The 40 days can, however, be split either side of a General Election so there is a chance that incoming Ministers and MPs could take different views to those of the current Government. If formally ‘made’, however, the code would apply throughout England, with 1 October 2010 having being set as the commencement date.
2. Breach of Government animal welfare codes is not a legal offence in itself but under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, courts must have regard to what such codes say in determining whether a keeper of animals has provided for them properly, or has committed a welfare offence. Similar codes for gamebirds are currently being consulted on in Scotland and Wales but the drafts in those countries do not include the late changes made in England.
3. It is unclear whether compensation for disruption of livelihoods as a result of the gamebird code would be payable but with some of the rearing systems affected valued at millions of pounds, claims against the Government seem highly likely unless the code is re-worked.
The Code of Practice for the Welfare of Gamebirds Reared for Sporting Purpose, laid before Parliament today, is available on Defra’s website.
Date Added: March 15th 2010