Letters to the editor

Dramatic fall in mountain hare numbers

Sir, - Your report, Gamekeeper warns of dead hares everywhere if protesters block cull, (November 10) is nothing more than scaremongering from a small minority keen to maintain their sport of commercial shooting.

The mountain hare is a much-loved iconic species which is sadly subjected to unjust levels of persecution even though it is thought to be in decline.

The British Trust for Ornithology’s monitoring, for example, suggests that the population has decreased by 34% between 1996 and 2014.

On grouse moors, where they are heavily culled, spring abundance of adults has been reduced by between five to a hundred-fold.

The idea that if this struggling species wasn’t culled many would die anyway is ludicrous.

Mountain hare are killed on grouse moors because estates fear they spread a disease to red grouse chicks, meaning fewer available to shoot.

Yet the Scottish Government’s own scientific advisers concluded that there is no evidence for this. Not only is it cruel; the killing is completely futile.

OneKind’s lobby at the Scottish Parliament today is an organised peaceful event which will be attended by concerned members of the public to raise awareness among politicians and the Scottish Government of the urgent need for greater protection of the hare. I invite anyone who shares our concern for Scotland’s wildlife to join us. Harry Huyton. Director, OneKind, 50 Montrose Terrace, Edinburgh.