Closed petition Suspend Natural England licence to kill buzzards.

Petition progress

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• 3 February 2017

  Petition closed

• 22 September 2016

  Government responded to this petition

  Buzzards are widespread in England and the issuing of control licences has no impact on their conservation status. This approach balances conservation of wildlife and supporting the rural economy.

  Read the response in full

  Buzzards are now widespread in England with, according to the British Trust for Ornithology, over 60,000 pairs in the UK. Issuing control licences has no impact on the conservation status of buzzards and this approach strikes a balance between conserving wildlife and supporting our rural economy.

  Where appropriate applications are made, Natural England issues Wildlife licences (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wildlife-licences) to prevent damage to agriculture, livestock and fisheries. In deciding whether a licence should be granted, applications are assessed in the same way against the evidence and within the legal framework of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/69). If all the relevant criteria are met, there is legally very little scope for Natural England to refuse to grant a licence. Natural England would not consider licensing any activity that would adversely affect the conservation status of a species.

  Natural England recently issued a licence permitting the control of up to 10 buzzards to prevent predation of young pheasants within rearing pens.

  Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

• 30 August 2016

  Government will respond to this petition

  This petition got more than 10,000 signatures meaning that government will respond to it.

• 3 August 2016

  Petition published

  This petition can now be signed.

  If this petition gets 10,000 signatures, government will respond to it.

  If this petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

  This petition will stay open until 3 February 2017.