Decoyman
Well-Known Member
John,
Following on from our earlier conversation, I've put our guidance/thoughts below along with what I got back from our insurance team.
“This is a complicated and confusing situation we find ourselves in, but its important to try to do the right thing by the Country.
BASC is advising that all recreational shooting ceases to limit the spread of the disease. For more large scale, commercial operations there is no clear line on what decision to make.
What I would advise is that even large Government and statutory bodies such as Forestry England, Forest and Land Scotland (both formerly known as Forestry Commission) and Scottish Natural Heritage have all made the decision to cease culling operations until the situation improves, so it would be very difficult to defend any personal culling as essential.
The risk of spreading the virus is vastly increased should culling continue, due to travel implications, and there is always the risk of accident or injury that would place even more pressure on the NHS.
If you decide that the culling you are planning is necessary, it would be up to you to defend that your actions were essential. When considering that Government bodies have ceased their culling on all of their land, this may be a very tricky argument to win!
I would personally advise you not to go ahead with the cull until the situation in the UK has improved, but obviously some scenarios are different and require delicate thought.”
On the insurance side, our teams view is that it could be very easy to view any unnecessary shooting as an illegal activity (against Govt orders) and therefore the insurance would not cover them. This could leave them personally liable and severely out of pocket, as well as a possibly having their FAC/SGC’s revoked. Obviously this depends on the particular case, if it could be argued that it was “essential” then the insurance would cover them but its an awfully big risk…
Hopefully this has heled but feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or want to talk through anything.
All the best
James Sutcliffe
BASC Deer Officer
Following on from our earlier conversation, I've put our guidance/thoughts below along with what I got back from our insurance team.
“This is a complicated and confusing situation we find ourselves in, but its important to try to do the right thing by the Country.
BASC is advising that all recreational shooting ceases to limit the spread of the disease. For more large scale, commercial operations there is no clear line on what decision to make.
What I would advise is that even large Government and statutory bodies such as Forestry England, Forest and Land Scotland (both formerly known as Forestry Commission) and Scottish Natural Heritage have all made the decision to cease culling operations until the situation improves, so it would be very difficult to defend any personal culling as essential.
The risk of spreading the virus is vastly increased should culling continue, due to travel implications, and there is always the risk of accident or injury that would place even more pressure on the NHS.
If you decide that the culling you are planning is necessary, it would be up to you to defend that your actions were essential. When considering that Government bodies have ceased their culling on all of their land, this may be a very tricky argument to win!
I would personally advise you not to go ahead with the cull until the situation in the UK has improved, but obviously some scenarios are different and require delicate thought.”
On the insurance side, our teams view is that it could be very easy to view any unnecessary shooting as an illegal activity (against Govt orders) and therefore the insurance would not cover them. This could leave them personally liable and severely out of pocket, as well as a possibly having their FAC/SGC’s revoked. Obviously this depends on the particular case, if it could be argued that it was “essential” then the insurance would cover them but its an awfully big risk…
Hopefully this has heled but feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or want to talk through anything.
All the best
James Sutcliffe
BASC Deer Officer
