A decision by Scotland’s governmental conservation agency NatureScot to dilute the new grouse moor licensing scheme introduced in July has been slammed by wildlife and environmental charities.
Scotland’s parliament had passed legislation requiring grouse moors to operate under a licensing scheme, to act as a deterrent to the illegal persecution of birds of prey. If raptors were being poisoned or shot in acts of wildlife crime, the estate on which these crimes occurred could then potentially lose its licence.
Under the scheme launched in July, the licenses covered entire estate landholding, so that if raptor persecution took place anywhere on the estate, the estate could lose its license. The new changes – introduced as NatureScot say the previous regime was not legally watertight – instead require the estates themselves to specify the areas covered by the licence. According to the respected blog Raptor Persecution Scotland, this will mean that when crimes are carried out outside the ‘licensed’ area, estate will not lose its grouse moor licence as there will be no breach of the licence conditions.
Shooting interests had told NatureScot that the grouse moor licensing act was unworkable; NatureScot has now told the Guardian that “these changes will ensure our grouse licences are legally robust.”
Conservation and wildlife groups have deeply critical of the change. RSPB Scotland director Anne McCall was quoted in the Guardian as saying “we believe that these changes completely undermine the primary intention of this legislation to tackle raptor persecution and will only give comfort to those who intend to keep killing our birds of prey.”
“Leaders across the rest of the UK are looking to Scotland and this legislation to show them the art of the possible, with an example that they might soon follow. But the promise of a real deterrent to criminality on Scotland’s grouse moors has been allowed to descend into a shambles.”