Grey partridge: hobby hunters call for criminal act
In Germany, the grey partridge is nearly extinct. A game management association publicly called for keeping the protected goshawk «under control.»
In the German-speaking world, the grey partridge is listed on the Red List.
Indiscriminate hunting, intensive farming, and belatedly introduced conservation measures are the main factors behind the extinction of the grey partridge.
Grey partridges were hunted intensively in Germany through driven hunts until barely any remained. The primary cause of the sharp decline of this and other ground-nesting species in Germany is the loss of habitat and food sources, particularly insects. Both have largely disappeared across wide areas due to the intensification of agriculture.
Ornithologists from Switzerland shocked birdwatchers across Europe last week: for them, the grey partridge is now considered extinct.
In Schwarzenfeld in eastern Bavaria, hobby hunters are celebrating a grey partridge project. Captive-bred grey partridges were released there in an effort to counter the disappearance of this farmland bird species in Germany.
Even with accompanying measures such as the creation of wildflower strips and intensive culling of predators, the vast majority of theseprojects are doomed to fail. The destruction of the natural foundations for these wild animals has progressed so far that, even with the best of intentions, it is barely possible to establish self-sustaining populations.
The most popular measure among hobby hunters who initiate such projects is the so-called "keeping predators under control" such as foxes, martens, and others.
That is why the game management association in Schwarzenfeld in eastern Bavaria alsocalled for "keeping vermin such as foxes or goshawks under control in order to protect the grey partridges“ (Mittelbayerische online, 29.07.2020). The fact that the fox does not belong to "vermin" but to game predators will be set aside here. By publicly calling for the goshawk to be hunted intensively (that is the meaning of "keeping in check"), the hobby hunters have likely committed a criminal offense:
„Anyone who publicly, at a meeting, or by distributing written material … incites others to commit an unlawful act shall be punished as an instigator…" German Criminal Code § 111.
Since 1972, all birds of prey living in Germany have been strictly protected species pursuant to § 7 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act. Any form of persecution is a criminal offense punishable by up to five years imprisonment.
Killing one species in order to protect another (such as the grey partridge) is not species conservation. Humans are the problem.
