Parakeets cull is racist, say wildlife experts

Parakeets are 'as British as curry' and shooting them would be racist, according to wildlife experts who are fighting a decision to allow the exotic birds to be culled. This week Natural England officially deemed the ring-necked parakeet as a pest, making it possible to shoot the birds without a licence.

However Dr Ian Rotherham, Director of the Environmental Change Research Unit at Sheffield Hallam University, said there is a danger that labelling parakeets as a "nasty alien" just because they are from abroad could be seen as a form of "racism" towards a foreign species.

"If there is a problem - for example with the birds taking fruit - then we have to take steps to deal with it. If you start to label it as alien then that is some sort of racism. Eco-xenophobia is the label I would use.



"I suspect there is an underlying view it is because they are alien, but it should be because they are a problem."

Matthew Frith, Deputy Chief Executive of the London Wildlife Trust, said parakeets were "as British as curry" and agreed it was dangerous to label the birds as a pest just because they are foreign.

"Parakeets are birds from the Indian sub-continent that came here is the last century and are doing very well. Just like curry," he said.