A Lothians MSP has condemned an upcoming "blood bath" on mountain hares and called for an urgent licensing scheme.
Despite the Scottish Parliament voting to designate mountain hares as a protected species, "open season" has been declared by hunters until new laws come into effect.
Animal charity OneKind estimates some 26,000 mountain hares are killed each year.
Rural affairs minister Maira Gougeon had announced the Scottish Government would back a Green amendment that would give year-round legal protection to the creatures.
In the recent wildlife bill, MSPs backed Scottish Green amendments to end the practice, but in a public statement, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation has said the open season will continue until the new laws come into effect.
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Commenting, Alison Johnstone said: “With the shooting lobby promising to kill as many of these animals as possible on Scotland’s grouse moors, the silence from the Scottish Government on this is deafening.
“Despite there being no evidence whatsoever that the control of mountain hares has any impact on the number of grouse available to shoot, this is an industry determined to kill as many as they can.
"It’s time the Scottish Government looked at public opinion and the best available evidence, rather than bending over backwards to accommodate landed interests. The decision of the Scottish Parliament must be respected.”
Game keepers had said the improved protections for the species was a mistake.
Alex Hogg, chairman of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, said: “This is a bad law, made by people it will not impact upon.
“The views of the rural working people of the land have been ignored, here. The system has failed them.”
In a statement announcing the season would go ahead, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation Scotland Director, Dr Colin Shedden, said: “It is entirely appropriate for the mountain hare open season to continue until a workable licensing scheme comes into force.
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"The amendment was rushed through without adequate scrutiny, and it will now take time to design a licensing scheme which will allow management to continue in a practicable way."
