“The trustees of The Druid Network, on behalf of the Membership, wish to express their abhorrence at plans by DEFRA to trap, control and destroy the nests of native buzzards in Britain. We stand with other organisations, whether they be of environmental, conservation or ethical intent, in opposing the attempts of business lobbies to influence and subvert legal protections on wildlife for simple cash profit and killing for pleasure.
Plans currently proposed by DEFRA, costing approximately one third of a million pounds, seek to destroy nests and eggs, and entrap and diminish a beautiful native wild bird that was not so long ago almost gone from our landscape. These plans fly in the face of current wildlife laws and are wholly incompatible with the excellent work that has been done over recent decades to mitigate the previous persecutions that almost wiped out the buzzard.
These plans are made at the behest of the pheasant shooting industry, its own morally questionable intention being the mass production of living targets, not native to this land, bred only to be shot in their millions by those who know the value of money but not the value of life. Buzzards are natural predators. While it is entirely possible that they predate game birds there is no good evidence they do so in significant numbers. In fact they are more likely to be reducing the number of rabbits, to the advantage of the farming industry.
Wild birds are simply that – wild. To think that a creature used to soaring on warm air thermals high over our woodlands can live in any natural way in a cage is ludicrous. To begin destroying nests after volunteers, wildlife organisations and public money has such good work in restoring buzzard numbers is to utterly dishonour the energy expended in cash and time to get where we are. At a time of alleged austerity, the idea that the average tax-payer will be required to foot the estimated £375,000 cost of this action is so wrong-faced as to be almost laughable.
The Druid Network opposes DEFRAs plans to control our wild buzzards as proposed. Druidry is based on honourable relationships with deity through the natural world, in an inspirited landscape. To stand and watch as these plans gained momentum would be to turn our backs on our very beliefs.”
Posted on 29th May 2012 at 20h30 BST
There is a petition site regarding this issue at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/304/227/564/defra-dont-spend-taxpayers-money-on-harassing-buzzards/ and we urge you to consider signing it.
Please feel free to copy this TDN release, and link back to this page.
Thank you; blessings and dreams of soaring magnificently on summer thermals.
[edit: for background on this issue, see
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18183204
http://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/
and other sites…]
Rosher.Net 
Leave a Reply