The 'scandal' of landowners shooting thousands of mountain hares every year

from Sunday Herald, 10 November 2013

Mountain hares are facing extinction in large parts of the highlands because landowners are killing thousands of them every year, wildlife experts are warning.

The distinctive furry mammals are being shot and snared by gamekeepers on grouse moors in the belief that this will help control the spread of disease. But scientists say there is “no compelling evidence” that this works.

“A preventable catastrophe has befallen the mountain hare,” said Dr Adam Watson, a veteran mountain ecologist. “This is a national scandal.”

Watson (83) has just published a new book on mammals in the northeast highlands in which he exposes the plight of the mountain hare. He has been regularly counting the animals for decades and has found “massive declines” over the last ten or twenty years on grouse moors around Deeside.

“As a very rough conservative approximation, I would say that spring abundance of adults has been reduced by at least five to a hundred-fold on most of these moors,” he told the Sunday Herald. In some areas hares have been completely wiped out.

This was “due to deliberate efforts by estates to eradicate them,” he said. “Gamekeepers on several estates have told me that they were instructed to reduce hare numbers and to try to eradicate them.”

Watson condemned the government’s wildlife conservation agency, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), for failing to protect mountain hares under European law. “SNH has known what has been happening for years and has done nothing about it,” he said.

“In my view, this is supine behavior, pleasing to or subservient to powerful grouse-shooting interests, but wholly against the wider public interest.”

Roy Dennis, another respected expert who founded the Highland Foundation for Wildlife, was also concerned about the “systematic destruction” of mountain hares, and SNH’s lack of action to save them. “Numbers are drastically down,” he said.

“The decline is very noticeable over the last 20 years on intensely managed grouse moors. I think it’s dreadful. There’s far too much killing of mountain hares.”

Moorland managers fear that ticks carried by hares spread a viral disease known as louping ill, which can be fatal to grouse. The fewer grouse there are, the fewer visitors will pay to come and shoot them for sport.

But a study by scientists from the former Macaulay Land Use Research Institute in Aberdeen and the University of Glasgow in 2010 found that killing the hares was not an effective way of controlling the disease. “We conclude that there is no compelling evidence base to suggest culling mountain hares might increase red grouse densities,” they said.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Scotland called on SNH to take urgent action to help protect the mountain hare. “It appears to be suffering as a consequence of increasingly unsustainable and intensive management of huge swathes of upland Scotland with the sole intention of delivering very large bags of grouse for sport shooting,” said the society’s Duncan Orr-Ewing. 

Animal welfare groups pointed out that culling the hares was also cruel. “Targeting a cherished, protected native species makes no sense, and worse, it causes needless suffering to every one of these animals,” said Libby Anderson from OneKind in Edinburgh.

SNH accepted that there could have been “localised extinctions” of mountain hares, and expressed concern about their “possible decline”. A closed season was introduced in 2011 to limit the numbers shot during the breeding season between March and July.

“We don't support large, indiscriminate culls of mountain hares and advise moorland managers to talk to us if they are thinking of culling hares in large numbers,” said SNH’s mammal expert, Rob Raynor. 

He was aware of allegations that some estates tried to eradicate mountain hares in an attempt to get rid of golden eagles. “SNH condemns any systematic attempt to reduce hare numbers for this reason,” he said. 

“Not only is it extremely bad practice, but it demonstrates no understanding of the ecology of predators such as eagles. If mountain hares become scarce or absent, the predator will switch increasingly to other more available prey such as red grouse.”

The most recent survey for SNH found that over 24,500 mountain hares were shot or snared by 90 sporting estates in 2006-07. Half the hares were killed to try and control louping ill, 40 per cent were shot for sport and 10 per cent for forestry or crop protection.

Landowners, however, claimed the evidence showed Scotland’s mountain hare population to be “stable and robust”. A 2007 survey suggested that the animals were present on 64 per cent of the area of driven grouse moors.

“The relatively high numbers on managed moors means that culling will not endanger the population,” said Tim Baynes, director of Scottish Land and Estates’ Moorland Group. Though thousands were killed every year, this was less than 10 per cent of the population, he argued.

He added: “Their future in Scotland does not seem to be at risk, and the idea that tougher measures are needed to protect them is not justified by the facts.”

Baynes accepted, though, that there were concerns in some quarters that “a charismatic native species” might be declining. “Moorland managers therefore must be careful that any culling they do is justified for tick control and based on good practice,” he said.

The Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association pointed out that removing predators on grouse moors helped mountain hares to thrive. “There is a population of mountain hares in the highlands which is relatively high compared to anywhere else in Europe but there is no denying that there are issues,” said the association’s chairman, Alex Hogg.

Because of the dangers of louping ill, which can infect humans, land managers had no alternative but to “suppress” the numbers of mountain hares on grouse moors, he argued. The association had suggested using a pesticide to kill disease-carrying ticks, but this had been rejected by the Scottish government.

These arguments gave conservation groups little comfort. The voluntary Hare Preservation Trust was convinced that mountain hares were being killed in breach of European law.

“We have information that they are being wiped out on some estates,” said the trust’s John Rimington. “I don’t think gamekeepers give two hoots about them.”

Mountain hares

Mountain hares are dappled brown with a blue tinge in the summer, but turn white for the winter. This makes it harder for predators to spot them in the snow, but also makes them more visible in early spring.

They usually live above 400 metres and take shelter in shallow depressions in the heather. They are most active in the evening and at night, but when disturbed during the day can be seen zigzagging across the hillside, bounding along on their powerful hind legs. 

They eat grasses, heather and tree bark, grow to about 60 centimetres long and live for about four years. They are native to Scotland and there are no reliable estimates of their total population, though counts by the British Trust for Ornithology suggest they’ve suffered a 43% decline between 1995 and 2012.

They are eaten by birds of prey like golden eagles, as well as foxes, stoats and cats. They can thrive on grouse moors, except where they become victims of large-scale culling.

Also known as blue hares or by their Latin name, Lepus timidus, they are classified as a “priority species” in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. This means that they are regarded as under threat and need action to help protect them.

This story was followed up by The Times, and prompted blog posts from Raptor Persecution Scotland, Alan Stewart from the National Wildlife Crime Unit and the Scottish Gamekeepers Association. A position statement on mountain hares agreed by the Scottish Wildlife Trust in September can be downloaded here (74KB Word document), and Stuart Housden, director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Scotland blogged about mountain hares in July.

Comments

[Aubrey Manning]

For some, 'grouse moors' are just that - the aim is to increase this bird to the maximum. Now the grouse producers have to recognise that it is no longer possible to operate in isolation, the moors are also valued for other things - mountain hares certainly amongst them. Thus I note that Alex Hogg has, of late, been at pains to portray grouse-rearing as biodiversity-friendly and I accept that some aspects sometimes may be. However he doth protest too much methinks when he seems to enlist the gamekeepers as agents of the NHS in that by culling hares they are protecting we humans from the mortal dangers of louping-ill virus. Perhaps I walk more safely on my local moors but I do miss the hares and I reckon I can spot a fatuous argument when I read one.

[Darren]

It's bad enough that animals are culled to prevent the spread of a disease (since the alternative - vaccination is considered to be "not cost effective"). To do so when there is no scientific (or moral) proof to support a cull is simply barbaric. What an utterly, senseless waste of life. They're being killed for the sake of slaughter.

[jason]

yet again another SNH fail