News

Wildlife Law Reform

Wildlife Law is currently under reform (http://lawcommission.justice.gov.uk/areas/wildlife.htm). The existing legal framework for wildlife management was deemed ‘overly complicated, frequently contradictory and unduly prescriptive’, creating ‘unnecessary barriers to effective wildlife management’.

The Law Commission are considering the law relating to the conservation, control, protection and exploitation of wildlife in England and Wales, and they published a Consultation Paper on provisional proposals for the new legislation in August 2012.

In November 2012, WildCRU’s Sandra Baker submitted a response to the Law Commission’s consultation exercise, drawing attention to the findings of her own research. Her full response can be seen here and her main points were that:

1. All spring traps should require welfare approval (currently breakback traps for rats and mice and mole traps are exempt);
2. Live traps should require welfare approval;
3. Inspection of live traps should be required by law and minimum inspection frequencies specified (as it is for snares, Larsen traps and lethal spring traps).

The Law commission are due to publish their final report and proposed draft Bill, with the full consultation analysis, in late summer 2014.