Poultry: Conservation
(asked on 13th April 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of shooting pressure on the European white-fronted goose in England and Wales on the overall population of the European white-fronted goose in Europe, in line with the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds.
Answered by
Baroness Hayman of Ullock
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has not made an assessment of the impact of shooting pressure on the European white-fronted goose in England and Wales on the overall population of the European white-fronted goose in Europe. Natural England provided an evidence dossier for the European white-fronted goose as part of a recent government consultation which proposes removing this species from Schedule 2.1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It states that the European white-fronted goose shooting take in England and Wales numbers less than 100 each year, based on research estimates.
The dossier also notes that numbers in Europe ‘appear to be stable’. Latest estimates suggest that the European population of European white-fronted goose totals 1–1.4 million individuals, whereas the British population totals 1,500 individuals. This offers some context to the relatively small proportion of the European population at risk of shooting pressure in England.