Inside Environment

Mass culls of native hares to protect grouse for sport is all wrong, writes Ilona Amos

Dr Adam Watson is one of Scotland’s best known nature scientists. A keen mountaineer and fellow of various research organisations, he is famed for his fascination with snow and lifelong interest in the plants and animals of the Cairngorms. As part of his vast body of work, he has been counting mountain hare populations for more than 60 years. A report based on his findings has just been published.

Data from spring surveys carried out on sites managed for red grouse shooting and on neighbouring mountain land was analysed as part of the study, which reveals numbers of mountain hares found on moorlands in the eastern Highlands have crashed to less than one per cent of the level they were at in 1954.

The research shows populations were declining at a rate of 5 per cent a year until 1999. But then began a downward plummet of 30 per cent a year that has continued until now. Conservationists blame their demise on landowners and gamekeepers involved in rearing red grouse for sport. Mountain hares, the country’s only native hare, are protected under European laws. Due to their elusive nature and ability to blend into their surroundings, particularly in their white winter coat, they are difficult to count. It’s not known how many there are, but estimates put the number at 350,000 north of the Border. The species has been listed as near-threatened in a recent review by the Mammal Society.

It is legal to shoot the hares without a licence from the start of August to the end of February and there are no government restrictions on how many can be killed during the open season. Control is permitted under special licence during the closed season. Numbers killed under licence must be reported but there is no obligation to do so during the open season.

The most recent figures show 2,898 were killed under licence between 2012 and 2017, but that’s just a fraction of the total. According to animal welfare campaigners Onekind, data released under Freedom of Information rules suggest around 26,000 are killed every year.

Land managers claim culls are necessary to protect game, especially grouse, from disease and reduce damage to young trees.

Game shooting businesses say the latest report “flies in the face of what estate owners and land managers see every day on the ground – that hare populations are very high”. It is widely acknowledged that habitat ideal for grouse is also favoured by the hares and, in theory, sporting estates should be strongholds for the species. But not if they’re being gunned down in their thousands.

Many people were shocked when film footage emerged of gamekeepers using all-terrain vehicles to access remote hillsides and shoot hares earlier this year. Other images have shown truckloads of slaughtered hares being collected and taken away for disposal.

Sporting estates bring in a lot of cash for our economy – around £32 million a year – and provide jobs in rural areas, but surely allowing obliteration of one species to benefit another being shot for fun is madness. Even Nicola Sturgeon has conceded that mass culls are “not acceptable”. How can we set out to protect hares, while simultaneously allowing unlimited massacres even though we don’t actually know how many we have?

Scottish Natural Heritage has recommended voluntary “restraint” on hare culling in recent years but this does not go far enough. It’s time put tighter controls in place.