Wild Justice hit with £10,000 legal bill after losing case

Wild Justice has been told to pay £10,000 after losing its High Court challenge to limit control of pest bird species in Wales.

The anti-shooting lobby group, founded by the BBC’s Chris Packham, former RSPB conservation director Mark Avery and blogger Ruth Tingay, was forced to pay the legal costs to Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

The £10,000 is the most available under the Aarhus Convention, which sets a cap on environmental cases.

See also: 2021 general licences issued for shooting pest bird species

Lawyers representing NRW claimed the costs after judge Milwyn Jarman QC dismissed all three claims brought by Wild Justice on the legality of its general licences.

Wild Justice had challenged the legality of three NRW general licences – GL001, GL002 and GL004 – which allow farmers to shoot certain bird species to prevent damage to their crops and livestock.

These include carrion crow, magpie, jackdaw, jay, Canada goose, feral pigeon and woodpigeon.

The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) described the case brought by Wild Justice as “without foundation” and the significant legal costs were “a wake-up call for the group”. 

Steve Griffiths, BASC Wales director, said: “For two years, Wild Justice has used the legal system to attack shooting and those who manage the countryside. They failed on all three grounds of this claim and now the judge has ordered them to pay costs at the maximum level possible.
 
“This is another significant defeat for Wild Justice and the manner in which they lost has been watched closely by other organisations and communities who may find themselves in the sights of this group run by Chris Packham.”

Fighting fund

BASC spent in excess of £140,000 from its newly launched “Fighting Fund” to give shooting a voice in the legal challenge and to help NRW defend the case. It fought to be recognised by the court as “interested parties”.

Mr Griffiths added: “It was right for BASC to make sure shooting had a voice in court and to support Natural Resources Wales in defending its general licences.
 
“We knew from the outset that we would not be able to claim back our costs, but it was money well spent so that shooting could stand up to Wild Justice and show the countryside would not be bullied.”

Responding to comments on Twitter, Wild Justice said £10,000 was “not a penalty, not a slap on the wrist. It’s the standard default amount, so it’s not news”.