Growing red deer population asks difficult questions of rural communities

A consensus on how to manage Scotland’s rising deer population is needed, writes Chris Mccall

The UK’S red deer population has doubled in the last 50 years, with at least half of the estimated 1.5m animals in Scotland, prompting a debate on how best to manage them. Conservationists, landowners, and politicians agree that the growing numbers are unsustainable.

Large deer populations strip vegetation, kill rare plants and leave little for other species. Then there is the danger for drivers, especially in rural communities where public transport options are limited. Around 6,000 collisions take place between vehicles and deer each year.

Tough laws and bold strategies have been proposed to tackle the problem.

Although about 100,000 deer are culled annually, a 2017 report by MSPS warned that efforts to manage numbers are failing.

Landowners can face fines of up to £40,000 if they fail to hit annual cull targets in a bid to clamp down on poor estate management, although the power is yet to be used.

Environment minister Roseanna Cunningham told a Holyrood committee last year that progress was being made. “I am determined that we will take necessary steps to address the concerns that have been raised,” she said. “I do not think that in another five years we will be having the same debate again.”

But crofters and the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) have been critical of some culls, complaining that local landlowners and communitities are not being engaged with.

A recent plan to fly deer stalkers into remote areas by helicopter to carry out culls was criticised by the SGA, who said the aircraft “spooked” the animals.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) responded that it was “extremely challenging” to manage deer populations across Scotland’s hilly terrain, adding that several estates had requested to help them use helicopters.

Meanwhile, crofters in the remote Sutherland area of Assynt complain that a planned cull by SNH on their estate is too large. They believed its scale could send the local population into steep decline.

A compromise deal between the crofters and SNH is currently being negotiated.

0 The red deer population is growing