A shortcast by Off the Leash's Charlie Moores about  General Licences and the shooting industry. 

The recent furore on social media about Defra's revisions of the General Licence system to give shooting yet more provisions to make it easy to make profits from killing birds for fun seems to have caught a number of people by surprise. But of course, General licences have been around for decades. 

The General Licence system is complex, but it's essentially a way for individuals from certain industries (almost entirely agriculture and shooting) to get ‘permission’ from the government to step around the laws that protect birds in England. Nominally, all wild birds are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. You and I can’t simply go out and shoot or trap birds. We can't wander around with a gun killing them. It’s illegal - unless of course you and I claim that the birds we want to kill are ‘pests’ or causing us economic harm, in which case Defra will let you wave a virtual piece of paper around and off you go. Virtual? Yes, you don't even have to print a licence off. By definition, no one actually needs to even apply for a General Licence...

• Government website General Licences
• Wild Justice General licence confusion continues – Schrodinger’s Pheasant (04 Jan 22)
• Hunt Saboteurs Association Website and Twitter feed
• League Against Cruel Sports Website and Twitter feed