A Perth-based organisation representing gamekeepers has questioned whether a government agency’s cull of almost 1300 deer in a month last year was necessary.
The Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) says it has been trying to establish the exact reasons the cull was ordered by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) last September amid concern some kills were carried out at night, a practice banned in some European countries.
The group also says documents it has obtained from FLS using Freedom of Information (FoI) laws show some deer were shot on private land, which is a criminal offence.
Vice-chairman Peter Fraser said: “FLS has claimed this cull policy was targeted and not a blanket policy. We disagree. There was no-one even out assessing forest damage during the pandemic.
"We’ve tried to get to the bottom of this through FoIs. We’ve been frustrated with wrong and missing information.
“FLS say mistakes can be made, which is true, but it is worrying when the grid references their deer controllers give them for deer they have shot are on other people’s ground.”
An FLS spokesperson said: “Our approach to deer management is fully compliant legally, is recognised as best practice and is backed by data on increasing deer populations and impacts derived both from our own extensive surveys and the recent independent deer working group report that cited an imminent total deer population in Scotland of one million.
“Consequently, additional culling is therefore required to protect young trees and halt losses in biodiversity: at any one time on Scotland’s national forests and land, there are around 150 million young trees vulnerable to damage from deer representing millions of pounds of investment in public forests.
“We had authorisation from NatureScot for the culling of female deer during close season on unenclosed land under the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996 (as amended) and also operate under the general licence for enclosed land.
“This authorisation is widely used by other forest managers to prevent damage by deer and we have discussed our use of it with stakeholders, including the Association of Deer Management Groups, which accepts our position. FLS has responded fully to all SGA enquiries.
“In 2018/19 NatureScot issued 254 section 5(6) out of season authorisations of which 11 related to FLS. A further seven ‘female over one year old only’ authorisations under section 5(6) to cover the period April 1 to August 31 were issued by NatureScot and of this figure none were related to FLS.
“All FLS rangers and contractors are registered with NatureScot as fit and competent to undertake this activity and are fully aware of the process they must follow. We also monitor our culling operations to reinforce best practice and ensure deer welfare.”
