LEGISLATION against the “sickening slaughter” of mountain hares is being considered by the Scottish Government, it has emerged.
Green MSP Alison Johnstone raised the issue in Holyrood yesterday after animal charities released footage of “brutal, military-style mass killing” in the Scottish countryside, which prompted an intervention by naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham.
Slamming the “sickening slaughter”, Johnstone asked Nicola Sturgeon: “When will the Scottish Government introduce new legal protection for this fabulous, iconic animal?”
Branding the killings recorded by OneKind, League Against Cruel Sports and soap firm Lush “unacceptable”, the First Minister said officials will now meet with landowners, gamekeepers and environmentalists, stating: “The Government is exploring all available options to prevent mass culls of mountain hares and one of those options, of course, is legislation and a licensing scheme. What we are seeing is not acceptable and that is a very clear message that goes from the Government today.”
The hare culling season runs from August to March and landowners argue it protects grouse on shooting estates from louping ill, a killer virus transmitted by ticks and carried by hare and other mammals. However, critics claim there is no concrete evidence that the measure provides a safeguard against the condition.
While the numbers culled are not monitored, Scottish National Heritage (SNH) estimates 25,000 mountain hares were killed in 2006-07 – between 5-14 per cent of the total population.
Animal campaigners say approx-imately 40 per cent of hares killed are targeted for sport shooting, and 50 per cent as part of organised culls.
Backing a law change, to prevent the loss of the “iconic species”, BBC broadcaster Packham said: “It is clear that self-restraint is not preventing large-scale culls of mountain hares on grouse moors.”
OneKind director Harry Huyton said the footage shows some estates are “at war” with the species.
He said: “We filmed large groups of armed men moving around the mountains in convoys, killing hares and filling their pick-ups with dead animals as they go.
“In one particularly harrowing scene, a hare is maimed by a gun and then apparently killed by the guman’s dog, demonstrating the serious suffering caused by the mass killing of hares on grouse moors.
“These extraordinary scenes of carnage have no place in the Scottish countryside. The voluntary approach has failed and the Scottish Government must take urgent action if it is to prevent further killing before the open season starts once again.”
Robbie Marsland, director of the League Against Cruel Sports Scotland, added: “No-one seems to be quite sure, but it looks like getting on for 19 per cent of Scotland is a grouse moor.
“In the context of a national debate about land reform, we believe now is the time to ask if this is how we want our land to be used.”
However, Tim Baynes, director of the Scottish Moorland Group, said: “This footage has been filmed by animal rights activists, who actively campaign against this type of land management, and have no interest in managing the balance of species and habitat on Scotland’s heather moorland.
“Mountain hare management is not only legal but necessary and is carried out within a regulatory framework of closed seasons and licences administered by SNH.”
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