The final debate and vote on the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill is due to take place in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday 19th March 2024.
For new readers, this is proposed new legislation to regulate grouse shooting and its associated management practices by way of licensing schemes, introduced because of the continued illegal persecution of birds of prey on many Scottish grouse moors.
The Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill, introduced in March 2023, has been examined and critiqued by the Rural Affairs & Islands Committee over the last year and after a number of amendments has now reached the final stage (Stage 3) of its progression through the Parliament.
Conservationists are generally satisfied with the Bill as it currently stands. It’s not perfect by any means, but it represents a significant shift away from the previous situation of driven grouse shooting being a largely unregulated hotbed of wildlife crime, animal suffering and environmental damage, where those committing offences were rarely held to account and the few who were only suffered minimal consequences.
The new legislation will introduce a licensing scheme for all grouse shooting in Scotland and where there’s sufficient evidence of unlawful activity (e.g. the poisoning, shooting or trapping of birds of prey) the licence can be revoked to prevent any further grouse shooting on that area of land. Crucially, the evidence will be assessed on the civil burden of proof (i.e. the balance of probability) rather than the criminal burden of proof (i.e. beyond reasonable doubt).
Muirburn will only be permitted under licence and not on peatlands where the peat depth is greater than 40cm. The muirburn season will end on 31st March instead of running through April as it currently does.
Grouse shooting and muirburn will both be covered by two new statutory codes of practice. Breaches of the code may result in the revocation of the relevant licence.
The SSPCA will be given increased investigatory powers to allow them to help with enforcement measures against wildlife crime alongside their current powers for enforcing animal welfare legislation.
Wildlife trap users will be licensed and all must first complete training for each trap type they intend to use. All snares (including so-called ‘humane cable restraints’) will be banned.
This is all looking very good. However, it’s not over the line yet. Further amendments to the Bill at Stage 3 may be lodged up until Tues 12th March and then some of those amendments will be selected for debate by the whole Parliament on Tues 19th, followed by a final vote on the Bill before it’s sent for royal assent.
Those further potential amendments have yet to be published but we expect to see them later next week. Of particular concern is a suggestion by BASC (British Association for Shooting & Conservation) that the Minister (Jim Fairlie MSP) may be considering a U-turn on the snare ban. This is what appeared on a recent BASC blog that was updating its members on the progression of the Bill after Stage 2:
A U-turn on the proposed snaring ban at Stage 3 would seem unlikely given the Government’s strong position shown at Stage 2 on implementing the ban, but BASC clearly seem to think that it’s a possibility.
With this in mind, I’d encourage all blog readers in Scotland to write to your respective MSPs to encourage them to support the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill as it currently stands and let them know how important it is that no U-turns are undertaken on the snaring ban.
Tell them how long you’ve been waiting for these new measures to be introduced and that you welcome and support the Government’s plans to finally bring some meaningful regulation to the grouse-shooting industry.
You can find the names of your MSPs by entering your postcode here.
Thank you.
UPDATE 14th March 2024: BASC throws a wobbler as Minister Jim Fairlie stands firm on Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 
Can one comment from outside Scotland, on the basis of regular visits?
Visitors can normally make representations to the Scottish government. I normally find the Green MSP’s most responsive. Tourism is a vital component and seems to be taken more seriously in Scotland than with our own useless bunch.
I’m not in Scotland.Who should I contact?
For those who don’t reside in Scotland but who want to show their support for the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill, emails (polite, please!) can be sent to the new Minister of Agriculture & Connectivity, Jim Fairlie, who is now leading the bill: ministerac@gov.scot
I am not a resident in Scotland…. I have e-mailed the Min. of Agriculture & Connectivity, Jim Fairlie.
This is an extremely important bottleneck where indiscriminate snaring of small animals can continue — or be banned. This is important to all of you who have cats and dogs weho are a common bye-catch of these devices.
The shooting Lobby have promised time and time again to remain within wild life laws but that has turned out never to be the case — be it raptors, badgers, cats, foxes, hedgehogs and many more.
Follow the instructions given on the post or regret it for a long time.
I DO live in Scotland. My local MSP is Finlay Carson who chairs the Committee and is not renowned for his positive attitude to wildlife management. I won’t be writing to him; I know how he’ll respond.
Your reluctance to email him is understandable. Although I’d argue that his standpoint is even more reason to contact him, otherwise he can argue legitimately that all his constituents that contacted him shared his view on the Bill. Don’t give him that opportunity!
Is this an opportunity to contact a different MSP on The List?
I thank you for your great diligence on this matter of bringing a better state of existence to much persecuted wildlife. My email to my MSP will be made forthwith, but will it be heeded or ignored due to current international troubles, and the backlog of trials long-awaiting settlement, or bullying” by a party grandee representing reactionary organisations and landowners? What is ignored by those opposing the proposed legislation on more human practice, is that there is a massive backing to improvements in animal welfare and wildlife protection. The disastrous intervention of 4 House of Lords members last year of the import of trophy shot carcasses and body parts legislation, caused an outcry over such an insult to the all-party involvement in supporting this step to make the UK more top notch against this pseudo-sport, and which had a very large public backing; this Bill is up for another attempt on 22 March.
Patience has been exhausted, rightly so, of many humane people who wish to remove bad and cruel practices in its various aspects of present-day life. It was the Quakers who questioned, from the end of the 18th century in the UK, the presence of a bear baiting pit in the House of Commons and other forms of blood sports. They were the main movers against slavery. There were also members of the high aristocracy, estate owners, who did not allow cruel forms of gamekeeping, and who supported humane animal welfare laws, for example, Lord Shaftesbury (the tireless campaigner for mining and other dangerous, and exploitative of women and children, industries. Such pioneers welded the welfare of human and animal, as being part of the same struggle. The contest still rages, so let us keep the flame burning bright for the Birds of Prey, and other poor creatures.
[Ed: Thanks alanmasonifa but I’m not going to publish that!]
Thanks for the ‘heads up’.
Have sent my support for the Bill to the Minister.
I copied-in the two co-leaders of the Scottish Greens, because I included a couple of quotes from the BASC web site referencing their lobbying of the Minister before the vote over various clauses in the Bill they want changing (in case they do not already know).
I kept it short.
Fingers crossed.
I’ve contacted all 8 of my MSPs now. I’m desperate for this to go through without any loosening of the proposals in snaring, that would allow wriggle room.
just done, please note it’s important to have your post code on any email to your MSPs
Now is definitely the moment to ban snaring, it is decades if not centuries overdue. Whichever politician(s) is credited with getting it done can rightly take pride in having stood firm on a fundamental matter of basic humanity. It is an entrenched and blinkered mindset that demands to be able to persist with this grubby caveman tactic to kill foxes in our technical age of such reliable and sophisticated firearms, truly incredible night vision & thermal vision that is a fraction of what it used to cost, excellent ATV’s, and extensive networks of roads & tracks, etc.
BASC may bleat that Scotland cannot do without having this “tool in the toolbox” (yeah some tool, mind! – just thousands of bits of wire lazily taking their toll of whatever comes their way night after night) and Armageddon will thus be upon us. It is bollocks. Estates have sufficient legal methods to control foxes effectively, at worst some might have to put a few quid on the cost of a days shooting – i.e. if they need to upgrade equipment or employ extra help from time to time. In truth, the only thing to be said for snaring is that it is an easy and dirt cheap way in the narrow £££ sense of controlling (killing) foxes. But it is far too expensive in terms of suffering and collateral damage, and an outrageous price to put on the Scottish peoples collective conscience.
(My email of support is heading to Jim Fairlie MSP.)
sent:
The final debate for Stage 3 of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill is due on the 19th March 2024.
I see that shooting organisations are hoping that the proposed ban on snares will be relaxed at the final debate. Please remember that snares cause unimaginable suffering to target and non-target species in Scotland and are not an ethical management tool for a modern Scotland. It is extremely important that no U-turns occur on this grave issue.
I have personally waited for a considerable time for meaningful regulation of the grouse shooting industry given its evidenced inherent criminality including the persecution of protected birds of prey. I still do not understand why muirburn is permitted at all when we are in a climate crisis.
Can I please urge you all to ensure that the proposals in the Bill remain as they currently stand and do not collapse into meaninglessness at this final stage?
Thank you for your representation in this important matter.
Yours sincerely,
Well put:-)
Reply from Douglas Lumsden ( Conservative) MSP. You couldn’t make it up:
“Thank you for getting in touch with me about the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill.
I share your concerns about Scotland’s natural landscape and the need to protect our native species and habitats.
The Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill sets out to conserve Scotland’s natural landscape, but I disagree with certain provisions within the legislation that will have a detrimental effect on biodiversity and the rural economy.
The Bill originated from the findings of the Grouse Moor Management Report, or the Werrity Report, which was published in December 2019. The report recommended that a licensing scheme be introduced for the shooting of grouse, and that muirburn, or the controlled burning of moorland vegetation, should only be permitted under licence from NatureScot.
It is apparent from the published legislation that the SNP-Green Government plans go beyond the recommendations of the Werrity report on the regulation of traps, the licensing of grouse moor management, and muirburn.
The proposed licensing scheme for the taking and killing of grouse is disproportionate. Under these provisions, non-adherence to the new unpublished code of practice, along with alleged crimes that have no connection to the management of grouse moors, could see licenses being suspended without NatureScot being satisfied that an offence had been committed. Game keepers and estates could, if a vexatious allegation was presented against them, have their licences revoked, causing a negative impact on investment and livelihoods.
The Scottish Government have also confirmed that a full ban on snaring will be introduced at Stage 2. Snaring is a carefully managed practice that is necessary to preserve wildlife and biodiversity. It can only be carried out by licensed professionals in situations where snaring is necessary to prevent the rapid decline of other nesting birds because of persistent predation. I would not support the inclusion of provisions that would completely ban the safe use of snares and erode our ability to manage predators.
I also support the retention of muirburn as a land management tool on peatland – especially for the purpose of preventing or reducing the risk of wildfires. However, I do not agree with the provision within the bill that muirburn licences for peatland should only be granted if no other method of vegetation control is available. Cutting, for example, would be less effective and the leftover brash could dry out and ignite causing wildfires. The devastating wildfire at Cannich during the summer of 2023 demonstrates why muirburn is essential to prevent habitats from being destroyed.
The Scottish Conservatives were the only party to vote against the bill at Stage 1. We believe that the legislation will have a detrimental effect on the rural economy and biodiversity. It is being driven by an SNP-Green Government that has no understanding of rural life, and the practices that are essential for wildlife conservation. The bill will deter future investment into Scotland’s estates and thereby place jobs in local communities at risk. It will also have a damaging effect on estate management, could potentially result in more wildfires, and will not help us to achieve our targets for sustainable food production, biodiversity, and climate change.
Thank you again for contacting me about this issue.”
Douglas Lumsden MSP
Good grief. Straight out of the SLE/BASC briefing doc and he couldn’t even be bothered to update it from Stage 1! Thanks for writing to him.
Thank you, Paul.
I think the reply you received betrays zero empathy for, or understanding of, our natural environment, combined with a bloody-minded attitude to suffering and wide-ranging denial of truths…
Thank you for highlighting this- I follow the blog with interest.
I have now written to my MSP to ensure my views, as their constituent, have been logged.