Grouse shooting Scotland: Call for ban on all snares as season begins

MSPs voted for the controls amid intense pressure from conservation scientists and campaigners after decades of illegal attacks on birds of prey by gamekeepers instructed to protect grouse on shooting estates.

The legislation brought in a ban on the use of glue traps - designed primarily to catch rodents - but allows for the continued use of other traps - so long as practitioners complete an approved course - to catch wild birds such as crows as well as foxes, rabbits, weasels, moles and stoats.

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A report by the League Against Cruel Sports and REVIVE, a coalition of animal welfare, environmental and social justice organisations, last year found grouse shooting in Scotland is dependent on the killing of between 100,000 to a quarter of a million animals in traps and snares each year.

They include species targeted as predators such as foxes, weasels, stoats and rabbits but also "non-target” species including pine martens, hedgehogs, badgers, deer, and hares.

Campaigners want to see a full ban on traps being used for sport.

"We are not arguing that predator control should stop. But there needs to be a legitimate reason for doing it and that there are high standards of animal welfare," said Max Wiszniewski, campaign manager for the REVIVE.

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"But predator control for the purpose of increasing grouse numbers for sporting reasons is not a legitimate reason.

"One of our key goals in REVIVE is to end this killing to kill on grouse moors."

He added: "There is no reason to think the numbers of animals killed to increase grouse numbers for sport shooting will go down if the goal, to maintain a ‘shootable surplus’ of grouse continues as it is." 

REVIVE, which has spent the last six years campaigning on wildlife issues around the licensing of sporting estates, is now to broaden its work by examining the issue of land reform with a conference to take place later this year.

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They estimate some 433 people own half of Scotland's land, with around 13% of the country’s landmass set aside for grouse shooting. 

REVIVE recently called for backing for amendments to the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill to end generous public funding for shooting estates. 

Current agricultural subsidies see estates like Invermark, which is “principally a sporting estate” in 2023 receive public money to the tune of £213,545.

Mr Wiszniewski said: “Why do large shooting estates pay so little tax? Why don’t local communities have more access to land? Why is so much of Scotland owned by so few people, and for such a pointless reason as shooting birds for entertainment?

“Grouse moors exist in Scotland because it has the highest density of land ownership anywhere in the developed world. Landed gentry, hedge fund managers and mysterious off-shore entities own huge swathes of Scotland. 

"Some have opted for rewilding but the majority continue to manage the land to increase the number of grouse. 

“To really tackle the travesty of grouse moors, we need more ambitious land reform.”

REVIVE plans to launch the Big Land Question at its annual conference in Perth this November and to conduct a year long programme of research, consultation and analysis to identify how the ownership and management of Scotland’s land could be improved for the majority, not a minority.

The coalition, which includes League Against Cruel Sports, Common Weal, Raptor Persecution UK, One Kind and Friends of the Earth Scotland, says it has already compiled evidence of the need for change. 

They say an analysis of the potential impact of a land tax found that budget deficits for Scotland’s most rural local authorities could be wiped out if land was taxed in a similar way as homes. 

Meanwhile, independent polling by Diffley Partnership, for Community Land Scotland and the REVIVE Coalition, showed a majority of Scots want land reform policies to go much further than the Land Reform Bill currently proposed by the Scottish Government. 

The research found that nearly three quarters of respondents agreed that the Scottish Government should compel landowners to keep wealth and income in the local community and to meet climate and biodiversity targets, while a clear majority (56%) agreed that a land tax should be implemented. 

Mr Wiszniewski added: “We understand that ordinary people and communities have strong feelings on topics like this, yet they lack the clout and influence of landowner organisations. We are determined to give voice to ordinary people’s concerns on the topics of land ownership and land use. 

“Scotland can’t continue to be a playground for the benefit of a few people who want to shoot animals for sport, to manage it intensively or to act against the interests of local people. It’s time we had answers to the big land questions and an end to Scotland’s concentrated land ownership.”

Ross Ewing, Moorland Director at Scottish Land & Estates, which represents landowner and estates, said: "Predator control is necessary for various land uses including farming, crofting and grouse moor management - all of which are completely legitimate and lawful, often bringing considerable socio-economic benefits to rural communities. 

“REVIVE, however, lays bare their true agenda when they campaign for predator control to be banned on grouse moors only, displaying no interest in protecting vulnerable wildlife, such as ground-nesting birds, which thrive on managed moorland. 

"It is widely recognised - including by the Scottish Government - that grouse moors contain some of the most important habitat and species that should be the focus of our conservation efforts. This was a view also shared by wildlife experts on the government's independent grouse moor management review panel.

“Indeed, peer-reviewed science is demonstrating that vulnerable and threatened species, such as the Eurasian Curlew, can produce four times as many chicks on grouse moors than on unmanaged moorland - this is no accident and testament to the diligent work of gamekeepers, funded by landowners. 

"In a GWCT study examining Muirkirk & North Lowther Uplands, where keepering has declined sharply, an 84% drop in golden plover population, 88% drop in lapwing and 61% drop in curlew was recorded - a direct result of the lack of predator control.

"The Scottish Government recently announced the creation of a new Wildlife and Species Forum to examine many of these issues and it is an initiative we are firmly behind.

"It is regrettable, however, that REVIVE seems to care little for many of these species and more about striking a blow against those who own and work on grouse moors.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 is a significant step in our wider journey to ensure Scotland’s environment is managed sustainably.

“We have struck the right balance between improving animal welfare, supporting rural businesses and reinforcing  a zero tolerance approach to raptor persecution and wildlife crime.”

“The Act allows for the use of certain traps for legitimate predator control, but only under licence which includes the requirement that the practitioner has undergone specific training to ensure trapping adheres to high standards of animal welfare."