Is It Legal To Eat Wild Birds?

[sapper756]

Who, What, Why: Is it legal to eat wild birds?

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/54777000/jpg/_54777061_z8920554-rook_corvus_frugilegus_-spl.jpgRook may not be everyone's ideal main course, but it is legal to eat in some circumstances

A pub has stopped selling wild bird on its menu - in the form of rook salad - on police advice. So what is the legality of such dishes?

 

The Taverners pub on the Isle of Wight managed to sell 30 servings of its unusual addition to the specials menu before the authorities asked the landlord to desist.

 

All wild birds in the UK are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

 

Technically, it is legal for people to eat some species if they killed the birds under licence but, with the exception of wood pigeon, they can never be sold for human consumption.

 

It would, however, be legal to eat a wild bird if it had been killed by someone else, or discovered dead as roadkill - although anyone wishing to do so would have to prove they were not responsible for its demise.

 

The hitherto obscure area of law was brought to public attention by the Taverners. However, the pub's owners and the customers who chose the dish were not technically guilty of breaking the law.

The Answer

• All wild birds in the UK are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 - it is illegal to kill them without a licence
• The licence holders can eat the birds they kill themselves so long as they do not sell the meat on
• It would be lawful to eat a wild bird that someone else had killed or whose carcass had been discovered - although anyone who did so would have to prove they were not responsible

• Rook salad off gastropub's menu

Instead, the man who supplied the bird meat was arrested on suspicion of contravening the 1981 act. A police investigation found that the man had shot a number of fledgling rooks.

 

The legislation makes it illegal to kill, injure or take any wild bird unless a licence has been issued by the authorities. It sets out a list of birds - such as golden eagles, red kites and woodlarks - which are protected at all times and for whom no licence to kill will be granted.

 

Other species can be killed under licence to prevent damage, disease or to conserve flora and fauna, and there would be nothing to stop those who did so from eating the birds they had culled.

 

However, except in the case of wood pigeon, it has never been legal to sell wild birds killed under licence for human consumption.

 

"The reasoning for this is that permitting sales of the wide variety of other wild birds killed under general licence, could increase the risk of killing purely to meet commercial demand," says Melissa Gill of Natural England, which oversees the permits in England.

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Edited August 24, 2011 by sapper756

[xtccock]

sparohonawkr pie served on a bed of chopped rubarbhu leaves on the menu now that could be appetiseing last chef said it was like asbestos

[billt]

Poor old pigeon got the fookin short straw again