Family sue for £100k over bison slaughter
A FARMING family is suing the Scottish Government after their herd of bison was destroyed on the orders of health inspectors.
Scott Shand and Shelagh BonnerShand’s award-winning business was left in tatters following tests that suggested their herd of bison was all infected with tuberculosis.
Officials shot the 43 American bison – Scotland’s only commercial herd – even as the couple were being promised a review of the decision.
Bovine TB is an infectious disease that mainly affects cattle but it can be
‘Had their business taken away in a single day’
passed to other animals, though rarely to humans.
Now it has emerged that Mr Shand and his wife are pursuing their case for compensation – understood to be more than £100,000 – through the courts.
A source close to the couple said: ‘Scott and Shelagh put 15 years of their lives into that business and had it taken away in a single day in distressing circumstances.’
The pair launched Caledonian Bison in 2005 and built up their herd near Muchalls, Kincardineshire, later moving to a Deeside estate near Aboyne, Aberdeenshire. In 2012 they won the Grampian Food Innovation Award for their ‘stand-out’ products, including steaks. But their venture was snatched from them in 2014 when officials from the Animal Health Veterinary Laboratories Scotland conducted a routine check and claimed TB had spread through 100 per cent of the herd, which is an abnormally high figure. They received compensation of around £150,000 for the animals – but no compensation for the loss of their business. Mr Shand, 46, now works as an electrician and Miss Bonner-Shand, 47, is a medic. Last night, they and the Scottish Government refused to comment on the case. A hearing went ahead at Aberdeen Sheriff Court last week but a final ruling is not expected for some time.