Deer management reform call

A coalition of environmental charities is urging the Scottish Government to adopt a new approach to deer management.

A debate at the Scottish Parliament tomorrow follows four years of scrutiny of the current arrangements by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the cross-party Holyrood committees responsible for the environment – the Environment Climate Change and Land Reform Committee (ECCLR).

The most recent report, published by the ECCLR – Report on Deer Management in Scotland – criticises the failure of the current system to protect important habitats and says “deer densities in many places are too high to deliver the public interest”.

The ECCLR report and its recommendations have been welcomed in a statement published by Scottish Environment Link and supported by RSPB Scotland, National Trust for Scotland, Ramblers Scotland, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Trees for Life, Woodland Trust Scotland and the Pitlochrybased John Muir Trust.

Mike Daniels, head of land management for the John Muir Trust, said: “For more than a century, high deer densities have impoverished the ecology of the Scottish Highlands.

“These modest reforms proposed by the environment committee offer us a way out of the endless cycle of debate towards a brighter future for our land that would benefit nature, local communities and the entire nation.”