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Sociological and political barriers to transition to non-toxic ammuntion: UK experience

ANNEX 1

Supplementary Information

METHODOLOGY OF GAME DEALER SURVEY FOR

2013/14 STUDY

For the sake of brevity, more detailed methodologies

e.g.

full

post mortem

examination protocols, or diagnostic decision

trees, are not presented herein but are presented in Cromie

et al.

(2010).

TIMESCALE

Ducks were purchased during the period of late November 2013

to February 2014.

PURCHASE OF SHOT DUCKS

Using the database of game suppliers in England created during

the Defra-funded compliance study (Cromie

et al.

2010), plus

identifying new outlets

via

internet searches, WWT staff and

colleagues purchased shot wild ducks from suppliers that

fell into three main categories, namely: game dealer/butcher

outlets (which may also have web-sales); internet game dealers;

and farm/estate shops.

Purchasingwas undertaken by either opportunistic walking into

retail outlets to purchase birds, placing orders directly on the

internet or more commonly by placing an order by telephone

with subsequent collection in person or postal delivery of birds.

An assumption was made that this is how ducks are normally

purchased and thus it did not affect normal supply to game

dealers.

Birds were labelled according to their order number and stored

frozen at -20

C until further analysis.

Region and provenance of birds

Purchasing was carried out in eight of the nine Government

Office regions of England (Figure S1) (London being omitted, as

per the Defra-funded compliance study, as birds were unlikely to

be locally sourced).

There was no intention in this study to investigate regional

compliance due to the relatively small sample sizes from each

region. The ‘across the country’ purchasing was undertaken to

try to provide as unbiased a sample as possible.

Suppliers were asked at the time of enquiry about the

geographical provenance of the ducks they sold, and were

given no reason to suggest that provenance would influence

the likelihood of a sale. There was consequently no financial

or other incentive for those from whom we purchased game

to be anything other than honest about the provenance of

the ducks. If suppliers said the birds were, in effect, not locally

sourced

e.g.

they came from Scotland

or likely came from

outside the Government Office region

(as determined by the

shopper), they were not ordered. The purchasing conversation

at ordering and/or collection often involved the supplier telling

the shopper about their duck-supplier, some naming the local

estates or wetland areas fromwhich they’d been shot. Anecdotal

comments supported this

e.g.

through indicating that they had

several more duck should we need them as Mr X or Mr Y local

hunter/shoot had been successful over the previous few days.

Where labels were attached to purchased ducks, these were

examined to try to gain further information about provenance.

Although suppliers from whom ducks were purchased gave

assurances that birds were locally sourced, there is no foolproof

way to ascertain exact provenance and it is possible that some

may have been sourced outside England (where they may have

been shot legally or illegally with lead). A large game dealer

is reported to supply Scottish shot ducks to English outlets

Figure S1:

Government Office regions of England

fromwhich ducks

were purchased with the exception of London.

One supplier only

A small number of suppliers