News from the Humane Society International (HSI) shared that Scotland banned seal shooting by the fisheries industry on June 17. Many seals are shot annually in Scotland in the name of protecting commercial fisheries. Scottish Parliament approved the bill, which amends the Marine Scotland Act. The bill repeals licenses for the shooting of seals as […]
Tag: scotland
Campaigners condemn ‘sickening’ killing of beavers in Scotland
ARMERS and landowners have legally killed around one hundred wild beavers in Tayside, The Ferret can reveal. Campaigners have condemned the killings as “shameful” and “sickening” and are demanding that beavers be moved rather than shot. Scottish ministers are now likely to face questions about the deaths. The official number killed under licence in 2019 […]
RSPB flooded with reports of birds of prey being killed
The RSPB has been “overrun” with reports of birds of prey being illegally killed since lockdown began. Police have been called out to investigate multiple cases of raptors being shot, trapped or suspected of having been poisoned, with the charity saying most incidents were on or close to sporting estates managed for game bird shooting. […]
Scottish wildlife at risk after £100m funding cut, say charities
Public funding for environment bodies in Scotland has plummeted by 40% in a decade, placing already declining wildlife at risk, according to analysis of government budgets. Scottish Environment Link, a coalition of more than 35 wildlife, environment and countryside charities, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, WWF and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, […]
Appeal over hen harrier death and disappearances
RSPB Scotland has said it is “devastated” by the death of a hen harrier found shot and the disappearance of two more birds. The dead bird was discovered by a member of the public near Wanlockhead, in the south of Scotland, in June. Two other hen harriers last recorded in northern Scotland have also disappeared […]
Country diary: farmed pheasants are little more than free-range livestock
Out of breath and panting heavily, I breasted the summit of the Lion’s Haunch, paused, then turned, slowly. A stiff pull up a frozen path through low gorse had brought me to the lesser peak of Arthur’s Seat, the extinct volcano that looms above Edinburgh. I stopped to feast on the view, my gaze sweeping […]
87 bird crime incidents last year and just one conviction, says RSPB
Birds of prey were shot, poisoned, trapped or illegally killed in 87 confirmed incidents in 2018 that led to just one successful conviction, according to the RSPB’s annual Birdcrime report. This persecution of raptors including peregrines, buzzards, red kites and owls is the tip of the iceberg, with many more birds vanishing in mysterious circumstances, […]
Gruesome gamekeeper kept ‘kill list’ and dumped ‘1000 animals into stink pit’
A gamekeeper suspected of running up one of the biggest kill lists of endangered animals in Scottish history has escaped a jail sentence. Alan Wilson, 61, was convicted of illegally killing dozens of animals on Longformacus Estate near Duns in the Scottish Borders. But investigators believe animals including goshawks, badgers, buzzards and an otter represented […]
