Grouse and pheasants are livestock, the Government has ruled, in new guidance which allows certain wild birds to be legally shot in order to protect them. 

Carrion crows, Jackdaw, Feral pigeon, Rooks and wood pigeons can all now be killed to protect birds which are kept by gamekeepers for shooting. 

It comes after the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs updated its guidelines on general licences. 

The new guidelines, released at the beginning of this year, state that livestock “also includes game birds kept in an enclosure or which are free roaming but remain significantly dependent on the provision of food, water or shelter by a keeper for their survival”.

The RSPB said the move could represent a “massive backward step for nature conservation”. 

Updated guidance to give clarity on bird shooting

Defra told The Guardian that the guidelines had been “updated to clarify when they apply and make clear when a game bird ceases to be livestock and becomes a wild bird. None of the changes alter the activities licence users are authorised to do”.

The department had been asked for clarity on the debate over whether pheasants, partridges and grouse, which are wild birds, counted as livestock under previous conditions. 

General licences are issued by government departments to give people a legal basis for people to carry out a range of activities relating to wildlife, including aiding conservation and protecting animals and crops. 

People do not have to apply for them, but they must abide by their terms and conditions. 

The new licence guidelines from Defra will be in place for two years. 

Kate Jennings, head of site conservation policy at the RSPB, told The Guardian:  “If this update to the livestock general licence goes beyond a reclassification of terminology and implies that it will lead to an increase in the killing of wild birds to protect game bird interests, then given the nature and climate emergency we find ourselves in, this would be a massive backward step for nature conservation in this country.”

The Government has previously tightened the rules on bird shooting following legal action from Wild Justice, Chris Packham’s wildlife group.