Hunters need the appropriate to shoot down parakeets as they unfold throughout Britain
Boffins say numbers of the African and South Asian native birds have rocketed by 2,600% since 1995 as they live freely in our parks after escaping homes
Margherita Vargiu feeding parakeets in Holland Park(Image: Margherita Vargiu / SWNS)
Hunters want the right to shoot down parakeets amid fears the noisy apple-nibbling green menaces are spreading across Britain. Boffins say numbers of the African and South Asian native birds have rocketed by 2,600% since 1995 and spotters say they have started heading north out of isolated populations in south London.
Now hunting groups want the right to shoot down the noisy intruders amid concerns they could harm native bird species and threaten farm yields following a recent explosion in their numbers.
Landowners in England are allowed to shoot down parakeets but only if they are causing serious damage to crops or are judged to be a threat to wild birds or plants of “conservation concern” on their land.
Killing the invasive birds for any other reason can result in a fine or a six-month custodial sentence. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, parakeets cannot legally be killed for any reason without special permission.
The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) has applied for a legal amendment to add ringnecked and monk parakeets to the official list of wild birds that can be hunted for recreation.
If environment boffins agree to the ask, it will mean anyone with a firearms licence can shoot parakeets for sport during the autumn and winter outside the birds’ breeding season, when they are protected.
A decision on whether to amend the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to include parakeets and a number of other birds on the “quarry list” will be made by officials next month.
Conservationists are divided on whether parakeets pose a risk to native birds or actually do no harm.
Conor O’Gorman, BASC’s head of policy and campaigns, said: “The problem is they’ve got these big flocks. They come in and they peck and eat just small little bits off the apples and the pears, and they just move on. You can’t sell those apples.”
But wildlife boffin Chris Packham has urged people to “chill out and learn to love the wonderful ringnecked parakeet”.
No one knows exactly how parakeet got to Britain.
One urban legend blames rocker Jimi Hendrix, who was wrongly said to have released a pair.
Another showbiz myth suggests they escaped from the London movie set of The African Queen, which starred Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, in 1951.
