Law change on muntjac

mudman

Well-Known Member
I understand that there will soon be be a change in the law regarding non native species, and as such it will be now illegal to release muntjac in effectively all circumstances. All muntjac taken in from the wild to animal 'hospitals' and similar will now have to be kept captive(?) or killed. No longer is release pemittered once treated as it was before ( within a mile of capture site ??).

Is this a good thing ? Or literally overkill?
 
May be a waste of time with the likes of Muntjac and grey squirrels as there are so many. But with others such as racoons or racoon dogs they should be euthenased to reduce any chance of them getting a foothold.
 
I agree that non-native species shouldn't be released in the wild. End of. The same applies to plants, trees, fish, etc.
In fact, as a Stalker volunteering for both the National Trust and Woodland Trust, I can say that the Conservation Charities would be happy to eradicate all Muntjac, and that is effectively my Brief. My team is trying hard, but you can only manage the bits of ground on which you have permission, so it is a hopeless task.
As far as The Deer Act is concerned, I would support a consultation / proposal to change it, towards allowing the lamping of Muntjac and Fallow deer, and using Thermal scopes, at night. I will now sit back and wait for some interesting replies ;)
 
In my view the law can state one thing, quite categorically, but getting the bunny-huggers to comply with it is quite another. It's already illegal to release grey squirrels and foxes, but that doesn't stop them, does it? Add in the Disney factor and the chances of 'ickle cute deer' being euthanised by any rescue centre is zero :-|
 
Aside....
Is there not already a legal obligation on land owners, to control species such as grey squirrel? Even if not enforced?
 
As far as The Deer Act is concerned, I would support a consultation / proposal to change it, towards allowing the lamping of Muntjac and Fallow deer, and using Thermal scopes, at night. I will now sit back and wait for some interesting replies ;)

No complaints here. Maybe Natural England could get licenced schemes going in the most heavily infested/problematic areas, similar to the badger culls.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JTO
woodsmoke could you let us know the law regarding fox release? im all for the law change regarding munties and greys, but we should be careful about backing a full ban on release of non natives, pheasants and red legs would be an easy own goal
shakey
 
No complaints here. Maybe Natural England could get licenced schemes going in the most heavily infested/problematic areas, similar to the badger culls.
Excellent proposal, I think the NT, WT and other conservation charities will be very keen to support that.
 
woodsmoke could you let us know the law regarding fox release? im all for the law change regarding munties and greys, but we should be careful about backing a full ban on release of non natives, pheasants and red legs would be an easy own goal
shakey
Fox isn't non-native, so I guess the rules would be a bit different from what applies to grey squirrels and muntjac?
 
I agree that non-native species shouldn't be released in the wild. End of. The same applies to plants, trees, fish, etc.
In fact, as a Stalker volunteering for both the National Trust and Woodland Trust, I can say that the Conservation Charities would be happy to eradicate all Muntjac, and that is effectively my Brief. My team is trying hard, but you can only manage the bits of ground on which you have permission, so it is a hopeless task.
As far as The Deer Act is concerned, I would support a consultation / proposal to change it, towards allowing the lamping of Muntjac and Fallow deer, and using Thermal scopes, at night. I will now sit back and wait for some interesting replies ;)


As for the woodland trust. They did have a good network of local stalkers that looked after local pieces of ground.
Now they have binned of of those when the DI got involved with them and undoing all the good work the volunteers used to do. Now the pieces are managed by stalkers 2-3 hrs away :(
 
As for the woodland trust. They did have a good network of local stalkers that looked after local pieces of ground.
Now they have binned of of those when the DI got involved with them and undoing all the good work the volunteers used to do. Now the pieces are managed by stalkers 2-3 hrs away :(

Hmmmmm ............... now where have I heard that or very similar scenarios before? :-|
 
I am going to be controversial here. The UK is not a natural habitat - it is now totally man made and managed to a greater or lessor extent. And we have introduced plenty of animal and plant species over the centuries. So if we want non native are we going to remove all the fallow and Roe Deer from the UK - fallow were brought in by the Romans and most of the Roe in Southern England relate to German stock that was to reintroduce the species. Muntjac and CWD, whilst not native are now a valuable quarry species and provide a good sustainable and delicious forest product - along with fallow and roe.

And the mainstay of sporting estates are phaesants, which are very much non-native.
 
?? What would be the need when there is open season on both sexes and people are happy to do it for free, who would stump the cash to pay the shooters?

Night shooting (but obviously with no bounty) might be a more productive method of control? And AFAIK venison fetches a better price at the game dealer than badger! ;)
 
Night shooting (but obviously with no bounty) might be a more productive method of control? And AFAIK venison fetches a better price at the game dealer than badger! ;)
actually Muntjac V Badger is a win to the stripey :p
 
Back
Top