“Have you heard the news?
“No. What?”
“There’s a cull of parakeets! You don’t even need a licence, you can just go out into your garden and shoot the little devils.”
“Whoa! Hold on there Annie, don’t get your gun just yet. I think you’ve been misinformed….”
Indeed you have, Annie. There is no cull of parakeets. Worth saying again, that: there is no cull.
No one has suggested one and the RSPB is certainly not backing one, although anyone caught up in the recent media froth about this could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.
There has been a change to the licensing system for anyone wanting to kill the birds. Not very exciting but very important, because if you killed a parakeet without good reason you would be in serious trouble.
From January, the birds will be added to something called the ‘General Licence’. This means ‘owners or occupiers of land’ will not have to apply to Natural England for an individual licence to kill the birds if they are causing a problem. Instead, the onus will be on them to prove they had a legitimate reason to kill them.
In the case of ring-necked and monk parakeets, that could be to prevent serious damage to crops or to conserve other wild birds. It will also be permitted to control monk parakeets (restricted to a tiny pocket in Hertfordshire) on public health and safety grounds.
In effect, the powers that be are trusting people to act responsibly. The Wildlife and Countryside Act is very clear about the penalties for anyone abusing that trust: Anyone who intentionally kills, injures or takes a wild bird is looking at a fine of up to £5,000 or as much as six months in prison.
So, contrary to some reports it is not ‘open season on parakeets,’ nor can you simply ‘take a pop at a parakeet’.
Click here for our Director of Conservation’s take on this.