We need laws to prevent cull of hares

Sir, - I must take issue with the claims of Tim Baynes of the Scottish Moorland Group when he states (August 2) that hares are only culled when numbers are high.

Dr Adam Watson reported in his 2013 book, Mammals in the North-east Highlands, that he had found massive declines in their numbers over the past 10 to 20 years.

He went on to claim that gamekeepers on several estates had told him they were instructed to reduce hare numbers and try to eradicate them. Roy Dennis of the Highland Foundation for Wildlife has also commented that “the numbers (of mountain hares) are drastically down in the last 20 years and the decline is very noticeable on intensely-managed grouse moors”.

Though a voluntary agreement for a cessation of large culls was agreed in 2014, photographs featuring a truck load of dead mountain hares taken in the northeast Highlands appeared in various media outlets shortly afterwards.

The Scottish Moorland Group did not deny that a large cull had taken place.

Legislation should be introduced to temporarily, at least, stop these culls until more is known about their effect on populations.

Some now claim that mountain hares are locally extinct in some areas.

Mr Baynes goes on to claim the culls are partly initiated “for limiting the spread of tick-borne diseases such as Louping ill and Lyme diseases.”

As some of the estates Mr Baynes represents also introduce a good portion of the 40 million pheasants released annually in the UK, would he also commit to regulating, limiting and reducing those numbers?

I ask this because pheasants are recognised as a very effective vector in regards to Lyme disease and were credited in the late 1990s with maintenance and spread of the disease in England and Wales. George Murdoch. 4 Auchcairnie Cottages, Laurencekirk.

Picture: Getty. A gamekeeper and his dog at work on a Scottish moorland.