Natural England have today released two new General Licences that allow the trapping of stoats for the purpose of conserving wild birds, and to prevent serious damage to livestock, including poultry and reared gamebirds, using traps approved under the Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards (AIHTS). Had these licences not been issued today, the trapping of stoats in England would have become illegal at midnight tonight.
Although the new licences are not ideal, they are workable. Two weeks ago, Natural England produced drafts of the licences that were completely unfit for purpose, and which would have prevented us from being able to continue to trap stoats, with no additional restrictions, as intended by DEFRA's implementation plan for AIHTS. Our concerns, along with those of a number of other stakeholders, in particular the National Gamekeeper's Organisation, were raised in letters to the DEFRA Secretary of State. All those concerns have been addressed in the new licences.
The new General Licences can be found here.
Sam Carlisle, the Countryside Alliance's Shooting Campaign Manager said: "There will be relief across the countryside tonight that gamekeepers and others can continue to lawfully trap stoats and conserve our wild birds and livestock at the most critical time of the year. Going forward we will continue to work with DEFRA and Natural England to iron out any remaining concerns and ensure that future licences are published within a timescale that allows proper and sufficient scrutiny".