The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) has welcomed Defra’s decision to allow landowners to decide the priorities for the management of wild boar populations.
Many of the points raised by BASC in its response to the Defra consultation are being addressed through the provision of best practice guidance rather than implementing new legislation.
The Wild Boar Action Plan will cover a wide range of topics such as impacts of wild boar and their management, minimum recommended firearms calibres, best practice and safe shooting and public awareness and how to react to boar in the wild.
Defra has requested that BASC is represented on the steering group that will develop the best practice guidelines with the aim of having them completed by September 2008.
BASC’s head of deer management, Alan McCormick, said: ”BASC is pleased that Defra has recognised that the local strategy for dealing with wild boar must be decided by those who will be most affected by their presence, the landowners, farmers, and wildlife managers in the areas concerned. This action plan is a positive first step in developing a coherent long term strategy for the management of this once indigenous species”
ENDS