Scottish government ‘leaving young deer starving to death’
Fawns will suffer a slow and lingering demise as cull marksmen won't spot them all, gamekeepers have warned
www.telegraph.co.uk
Scottish government accused of leaving young deer starving to death
By Jamie Johnson 31 August 2022 • 3:53pm
A controversial early cull of female deer ordered by the SNP government's forestry agency will leave orphaned fawns to starve to death, Scotland's gamekeepers have warned ahead of it starting on Thursday.
Peter Fraser, vice chair of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA), said red deer calves and roe fawns between six and 12 weeks old are so small and fragile that they are entirely reliant upon their mothers’ milk and guidance for survival.
Although the marksmen hired to conduct the cull are trained to kill the youngsters before their mothers, he said thick ground vegetation and bracken that can grow more than 6ft tall often conceals them.
He warned this means they will escape being shot but will be left to starve instead, suffering a slow and lingering death.
The official season for shooting female deer starts on Oct 21 but it is the third year government agency Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) has ordered an early cull to try and reduce extensive tree damage.
However, Mr Fraser said the only reason that forest damage was so bad in Scotland was the agency's "mismanagement" and particularly shooting "the wrong animals at the wrong time".
Deer being culled to protect trees
Around a fifth of Scotland's wild deer population will be culled over the next five years as part of a blueprint to protect up to 150 million trees in national forests and land that FLS has said are vulnerable to damage.Deer numbers across Scotland have doubled to more than a million since 1990 and the annual economic impact of deer damage on FLS-managed land is estimated at £3 million.
Officials have awarded a five-year tender worth between £25 million to £31 million for 10 regional culling contracts, which will be licensed by government agency NatureScot.
But the SGA said several of the marksmen contracted to carry out the shoots have contacted the organisation anonymously to state they were "uncomfortable" with the policy.
Mr Fraser said: “I have been managing deer a long time and youngsters will be left, no question. In forestry, even in a clearing, you will get one shot and the mother will be off into cover.
"In areas like the west, deer managers will be encountering bracken 6ft or 7ft high regularly. It is very difficult to get deer out of cover like that."
'Wait until fawns can fend for themselves'
He argued the agency should wait a "few weeks more", until the young deer could fend for themselves, so the cull could be conducted "more effectively, without the animal welfare implications."Mr Fraser said the extent of the deer damage to forest trees has been caused by the agency cutting the number of full-time wildlife rangers and "indiscriminate culling of males around the year".
When a master buck is killed, he said there is an influx of young bucks challenging for the vacant area, resulting in more damage such as bark stripping.
He contrasted FLS's approach with the management of deer on open hills, where he said the Scottish Government's target of 10 animals per square metre has been achieved in most areas.
An FLS spokesman said: "We are not aware of any evidence ever having been presented to support the assertion that young deer being left to die as a result of our culling operation.
"As responsible land managers we would be amongst the first to encourage anyone with any evidence of best practice not being followed to report this to deer management regulator, NatureScot.”
A NatureScot spokesman said: "Deer welfare is key and NatureScot takes into account the period of greatest welfare risk based on the dependency of young, which in Scotland is the period between Apr 1 to Aug 31."
