Mutilations (Permitted Procedures) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2008

If I may, I will speak seated. I want to speak briefly about wing-tagging. It is a good development in the law to permit it. Many years ago, I was concerned with some research looking at gulls and terns in East Anglia. There, the common method of tagging of chicks was with leg bands. The mortality from that was remarkable, simply because the rings caught on grass and debris on the ground, and the chicks died. Wing-tagging is very much more effective. Frankly, I cannot understand why the RSPCA should object to it. It is a very good development, which will result in much more effective information on a range of wild birds for research and breeding purposes, and it will be safer than leg tags.