§ Mr. MorleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the killing of migratory geese. [22346]
§ Sir Paul BeresfordAll wild birds, including migratory species, in the UK are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which enacts our statutory obligations under the EC birds directive. Those migratory geese—greylag, pink-footed and white-fronted—which are included on schedule 2 to the Act can be hunted outside the close season. Licences may be given for killing geese and other birds for the purposes specified in section 16 of the Act.