Lorna Slater successor 'must scrap' out-of-season Scotland deer cull for animal and human welfare

Lorna Slater was the former minister in charge of managing Scotland’s deer population until the Bute House Agreement was scrapped.

Gamekeepers have called for the successor of the former minister in charge of deer management to scrap the out-of-season cull proposals for mental health and animal welfare reasons.

The demand comes as outgoing First Minister Humza Yousaf binned the Bute House agreement, severing SNP ties with the Scottish Greens.

Lorna Slater, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, was the minister responsible for deer management during the coalition between the two parties. Before being stripped of her Government role, she led proposals to extend the open season on culling female deer as part of measures to control herd numbers and protect woodland and peatlands from overgrazing.

Scottish Green Party co-leader Lorna Slater

But members of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) said the proposed policy presented issues for both deer managers and the wellbeing of the animal.

The SGA said it would mean hinds being killed while close to full pregnancy, as the measure would extend the existing spring culling season by six weeks.

With deer entering into the human food chain, SGA said this would mean deer management professionals - culling at this time - will have to open up pregnant mothers and remove calves.

Alex Hogg, chairman of the SGA, said there was “a pressing need” to look at the existing policy given its potential impact on deer managers’ mental wellbeing.

He said: “The Scottish Government knows that it needs more deer managers if it is to meet its targets for the environment, but these types of policies will just push people out of the sector.

“There is not a deer manager in Scotland that willingly wants to carry out such culls and we don’t want people feeling compelled to, if this measure is brought in. We need to think seriously about people’s mental wellbeing.”

The demands were backed by the Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust, which supports rural workers in the UK.

The charity’s chief executive Helen Benson said: “We are increasingly concerned for the welfare of stalkers and deer managers who are passionate about the wildlife they manage. They are being pressured into culling deer outside current seasons, which were established for sound, ethical purposes. The mental health of stalkers and deer managers, and that of their families, is undoubtedly being affected by these measures.

“With increasing mental ill health in rural communities and a suicide rate of more than one per week, this is becoming a crisis which cannot be ignored.”

The proposals are part of the Scottish Greens-led proposed ‘deer management nature restoration orders’ (DMNROs).

These were ripped apart by Tom Turnbull, chairman of the Association of Deer Management Groups, and Ross Ewing, director of moorland at Scottish Land and Estates, in a recent article in The Scotsman.

Both critics said the DMNRO concept, which could lead to a landowner or manager who is failing to comply with the proposed cull plan face a £40,000 fine or three months in prison, or both, “is completely flawed”.

They claimed Ms Slater was forced to acknowledge deer are not Scotland’s only herbivores, and therefore “how is NatureScot supposed to distinguish between the impacts of deer and other herbivores, such as the protected mountain hare”.

They described the DMNRO as “not evidence-based” and “a tool to beat landowners and deer managers for no obvious public benefit”.

The Scottish Government said it had considered a more restricted close season, when a female deer cannot be killed, “has significant welfare value”, and that it will continue to keep the current cull dates under review.