Under fire: anger as VisitScotland promotes shooting of hares for sport
SCOTLAND’S official tourist agency is under mounting pressure to cease promoting the recreational shooting of thousands of mountain hares. Animal welfare campaigners are calling on VisitScotland to stop backing businesses that profit from organising hare-shooting holidays, saying encouraging the sport undermines Scotland’s reputation as an animal-loving country.
VisitScotland has removed a photo graph of shooters standing behind a long line of dead hares from its website. But it says it cannot discriminate against the country sports industry, which is worth over £155 million a year.
The Edinburgh animal charity, OneKind, is launching a petition to try to persuade VisitScotland to withdraw its support for hare-shooting firms. “Visit Scotland,” it says, “but don’t kill our hares.”
According to the charity, tens of thousands of hares are shot every year in the Scottish countryside. Forty per cent are killed for sport, with others culled by gamekeepers on estates to help preserve red grouse for shooting.
OneKind has identified 25 companies that advertise hare shooting online, some of which have been assisted by VisitScotland. The tourism agency has given two grants worth a total of £36,675 to the Scottish Country Sports Tourism Group, and currently hosts a webpage for Scottish Borders Field Sports. “This is not the kind of tourism we should be encouraging, let alone using public resources and funds to promote,” said OneKind director Harry Huyton. “We believe that recreational hare killing, particularly as part of driven hunts which involve killing hundreds of hares at a time, is in direct conflict with the Scottish Government’s commitments to the conservation and welfare of mountain hares.”
He added: “VisitScotland may have a duty to be impartial in who it promotes, but that doesn’t mean it should support an activity that undermines our repu- tation as an animal-loving country that celebrates its natural heritage.”
Complaints about a photograph used by a hare-hunting company on VisitScotland’s website resulted in it being removed in August. The photograph from Italian firm Mirani Hunting showed shooters displaying their kills.
VisitScotland said it had removed the “offending” image from its online business listing because it breached website terms and conditions, and the company then completely withdrew its listing. Mirani Hunting did not respond to Sunday Herald requests for comment.
The tourism agency accepted that country sports are a sensitive issue. “However, as a public body we have to remain impartial and we cannot discriminate against one sector of the tourism industry,” said a spokeswoman. “Those with an interest in field sports also take part in other activities and sports while visiting Scotland – spending on retail, golfing and eating out to name but a few. This makes the sector extremely valuable.”
According to the Scottish Government, “large-scale” culling of mountain hares could not be justified. “If evidence emerges that indicates levels of culling of hares that could cause significant population decline – locally or nationally – the Scottish Government will consider bringing forward further measures to protect them,” said a spokesperson.