Here’s a shocker. Scottish gamekeepers have been accused of making ‘misleading’ and ‘greatly exaggerated’ claims about mountain hares, according to SNH staff emails, uncovered by a Freedom of Information request from Scottish animal welfare charity OneKind.
Gamekeepers accused of making stuff up? Shurely shome mishtake.
This news was revealed in an article in yesterday’s Sunday Times, and the SNH staff comments are alleged to refer to a propaganda video on grouse moor management, produced by the Grampian Moorland Group.
Here’s the article (illustrated by what looks like a brown hare, not a mountain hare).
Gamekeepers have made “misleading” and “highly questionable” claims over mountain hares, according to Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) staff emails passed to The Sunday Times.
In recent years sporting estates have defended mass culls of mountain hares in Scotland, an iconic species that animal welfare groups claim is under threat due to large-scale killing.
This newspaper revealed last year that up to 38,000 mountain hares a year had been killed on Scottish estates, some of which have charged people thousands of pounds a day to shoot the animal. More than 1.3m hares have been killed in Scotland over the past 50 years.
Mountain hare killing is unregulated during the open season, but although there has been a sharp decline in hares in northeast Scotland, there is an ongoing dispute as to whether the species is in decline overall.
SNH is the official body with the responsibility for protecting wildlife in Scotland, and it has been liaising with various bodies on how to protect mountain hares, while taking into account the views of gamekeepers and estates who dispute claims the animal is under threat.
Emails released following a freedom of information request reveal that SNH staff raised concerns over a promotional video for grouse moor and hare management produced by the Grampian Moorland Group.
During internal discussions last year, SNH staff said the video made “misleading claims” while another email said the browsing impacts of mountain hares were being “greatly exaggerated”. The emails were obtained by animal welfare charity, OneKind.
Bob Elliot, OneKind director, said: “We are always being informed by the gamekeeping community that large-scale mountain hare culls are needed. Now Scottish Natural Heritage are also raising serious concerns about some of the facts portrayed in online videos and communications by the shooting community. It’s time for the government to ban the large-scale culling of mountain hares for good.”
The Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) said: “The SGA and SNH have long disagreed over issues such as browsing impacts of hare and deer on habitats and would have these same differences tomorrow, regardless of FOIs (freedom of information requests) or internal emails.”
Grampian Moorland Group said: “Group members worked with SNH and the James Hutton Institute on the research to establish the best methods of counting mountain hares. If SNH has a problem, they should contact us directly.”
SNH said: “We know of very few sites where mountain hares are considered to have an impact on site condition. The few we are aware of involve a combination of sheep and/or deer also.
We have not recommended control to improve the condition of any of these.”
ENDS
Raptor Persecution UK 
The Mountain Hare is the indigenous species of Britain. Brown Hares were imported from the Continent, with (I think) the Romans. It would be unconscionable to allow the Mountain Hare to be shot to extinction.
This must be incorrect!!!!!
How can such knowledgeable and upstanding members of society have got things wrong????
It must be a setup, they are being framed, AGAIN!!!!
I remember some years when Benyon MP wanted to introduce a cull of buzzards because his gamekeeper stated that 5000 pheasants were being taken by buzzards, annually!!!!!
I wonder how many local butchers gain a few thousand, unaccounted for, lead free pheasants?
Cynical me? I like so many of us cannot know the wily ways of these ‘law abiding’ country folk.
The sooner we can catch them the better for our native predators.
Doug
Another reason why they were so very keen to get credibility for ‘Understanding Predation’ – if the field research doesn’t say what you want it to label it as ‘science’ and thereby something done by folks in white coats in front of a computer when it was actually done by people spending probably hundreds of hours of dedicated, specific and highly trained/competent observation of the wildlife concerned. It’s about time people were made aware what real science is and why if spontaneous, incidental observations indicate something that’s truly significant then field research will confirm not contradict it. SNH made a rod for its own back when it gave UP any credence, the SGA are trying to undermine its reports because they clash with what gamekeepers say! This is just going to happen all the fecken time now. They are quite keen to show thermal imaging cameras at work to assess mountain numbers, wonder what else they get used for?
1.3 million Scottish mountain hares slaughtered over 50 years. Come on Scottish government…..get a grip of this!
Surely all SNH has to do is to ban killing of mountain hares? It is not rocket science. As SNH do not believe mountain hares have an adverse effect of the environment there is no justification for killing them, so it should be banned.
The number of mountain hares on moorland in the eastern Highlands is at less than 1% of their levels in the 1950s according to new research. The study draws on data from one of Scotland’s most renowned ecologists, the late Dr Adam Watson.
Not content with lying about the huge reduction in mountain hares they went on to traduce one of Scotland’s most renowned, the late Dr. Adam Watson, in press releases that followed.
The whole grouse shooting industry is a disgrace, both to our country and to any of their associates who value truth as a basis for practical conservation.
One of them referred to Adam Watson as ‘a doddery old man’ – they really are contemptible.
An accolade here for OneKind. I am a veteran of animal welfare and conservation of species causes, who remembers well the dedication and compassion of my generation for such humane efforts, who, unfortunately have passed on to a dimension where the demons of blood sports and abusers of animals, are forbidden to enter. They experienced the same mind numbing claims by gamekeepers, duff politicians/script writing civil servants and others, who fauned on the shooting estate owners. They often lamented on the lack of a coherent policy of arraigning errant gamekeepers and others, who had breached wildlife protection laws. They felt that the police, fiscal service and judiciary had been cowed in their inaction or a limp response. The population of Scotland had grown up believing in the propaganda that the countryside was “managed” well by a class of dedicated gentlemen, called gamekeepers, who would not dream of using any cruel and elongated form of death, such as poisoning, snaring, trapping or partially blasting some poor animal or bird. To sanitise/justify such methods, the word “vermin” would be used, The gullible public would go off to bed, happily believing all was well in Heaven and on shooting estates, where angelic custodians patrolled and slew monsters, such as Brown Hares, Mountain Hares, Mustelids, Birds of Prey, Corvids and a host of other creatures that offended their concept of a “vermin species cleansed” natural landscape. Just how many of those imbeciles had ever attempted a junior school exam in Biology, particularly on the importance of maintaining a balance in any natural environment? Thus, we had to endure such a gross deception, however, today, with Science shining its light into that mythological world of the valiant landowners and their lackeys in our countryside, a sense of having been duped has emerged.
A new Enlightenment has come into existence, one that is motivated by the strident alarms being made on global warming and climate change, and clinging to the stirrups of this galloping horse, are the multitudes of appeals to save a host of endangered species, with the WWF advertising like mad to save Elephants and Clouded Leopards by sponsorships. Trophy shooting is rearing its perverted image, with its supporters among certain Government Ministers who are reluctant to protect Lions and other creatures, that are facing extinction to boost the vaunted egos of deranged men and, sad to say, women, who like to pose beside dead Giraffes, Zebras etc., whose meat, like Grouse and other game birds, can appear in fishmongers and butchers throughout Europe and the UK, for sale at exorbitant prices, to join the illegal Bushmeat of Gorillas and other Primates, sold under the counter in some places.
I have extended my thesis from an attack on a system that is an anachronism, that is, the feudal and backward use of our countryside as a blood sports playground, to an indictment against mankind’s contemptuous disregard for the other forms of life struggling to survive in Earth’s forests/habitats, against many resource demands that involve their elimination, and our oceans from pollution and overfishing, Here in Scotland, our politicians have still to grasp the Thistle of seeing that we must conform to doing our bit to conserve our natural environment and all our wildlife, by removing all hindrance to that task. A Revolution is needed, and I, and many like me, would gladly be part of that necessary work, if we are to save this planet. I hope the general public stop being by-standers, and see the importance of creating a more humane world for future generations.
What stands in our way, is a shoddy in justification for its daft actions privileged assembly of blood sports followers, and a compliant system that needs to re-examine what is indefensible, and install what should be the model for survival for all life.
So very very well said.
Game shooting is most certainly an anachronism we can well do without
What a good title for a campaign ‘Grasp the Thistle!’
Anybody think that SNH are beginning to realise that rather than quietly colluding to preserve ”traditional rural life” they’re actually on the wrong end of a master/servant relationship, & they don’t like it?
Well said! The key phrase I think is: ‘The Balance in Nature’. We’ve managed to screw it over many years and we’re paying for our mistakes. I believe human greed is the culprit or maybe just poor understanding of the effects of our actions. Either way changes have to be made. It’ll take time but it’ll be worth it. Legislation and proper policing is needed to tip back the Balance.