Letter: Culling hares

Published on Monday 10 January 2011 17:15

Your article regarding mountain hare numbers (10 January) highlights two keys points. First, the failure of shooting estates to appreciate the fine ecological balance that exists on their own ground, namely by blindly killing about 25,000 mountain hares a year, (they are perceived to be a serious carrier of ticks).

They deprive food to birds of prey, thus increasing the likelihood that they will in turn prey on grouse, which is the sole reason for the hare cull in the first place - namely to keep grouse numbers artificially high for shooting.

Second, the red deer population here is between 500,000 and 750,000, with some estates maintaining artificially high numbers for shooting.

Surely a better way to manage tick numbers would be to reduce deer numbers.

Logan Steele

Bridgewater Avenue

Auchterarder, Perthshire