Wildlife groups welcome plans to legislate gamebird shooting
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
WILDLIFE conservation groups are this week welcoming new plans to impose legislation on gamebird hunters in Scotland.
The Scottish Raptor Study Group, the Scottish Wildlife Trust and RSPB Scotland, are hopeful change will be imminent after the Scottish Parliament’s environment, climate change and land reform (ECCLR) committee recognised that illegal persecution of birds of prey “remained a widespread concern”.
Heeding a petition lodged by the Scottish Raptor Group, the committee will write to Scotland’s environment secretary Roseanna Cunningham recommending that the Scottish Government commission an inquiry to explore how a licensing scheme could operate.
Logan Steele of the Scottish Raptor Study Group, said: “The ECCLR committee has made a thorough assessment of the evidence put before it, and clearly concluded that raptor persecution has not been dealt with by the gamebird shooting industry.”
Kenneth Stephen of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) said: “The SGA will not defend wrongdoing, and has taken strong action when its position on wildlife crime has been breached by its members. But we also believe honest working people – in the overwhelming majority in our profession – deserve to have their rights to employment protected.
