Revealed: landowners massacre mountain hares in the Lammermuir Hills

from Sunday Herald, 28 September 2014

Landowners have been condemned for shooting more than 1,500 mountain hares this year in the Lammermuir Hills, south east of Edinburgh. 

Wildlife and animal rights groups say that the “mass slaughter” of a much-loved Scottish species is unjustified and cruel. But landowners insist that the cull is necessary to protect grouse from disease so that they can be shot for sport.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has received evidence that between 1,500 and 1,700 mountain hares were shot by landowners across the Lammermuirs in the spring. The figures are privately confirmed by landowners as “not unrealistic”. 

Several sporting estates were involved in the cull, including Burncastle, the 8,000-acre grouse moor near Lauder in the Scottish Borders owned by Ralph Percy, the 12th Duke of Northumberland. Based at Alnwick castle in Northumberland, he has been listed by the magazine, Country Life, as one of the UK’s top ten aristocratic landowners.

“Most people will be unable to see any justification for killing an iconic species, known to be in decline, on such an industrial scale,” said Libby Anderson, policy director at OneKind, an Edinburgh-based animal welfare group. 

“This goes far beyond hunting for the pot or what some may call sport – it looks more like extermination. Killing in springtime is likely to involve the deaths of pregnant or lactating females, adding to the toll of suffering.”

The large-scale culling of mountain hares is not illegal, though they are a protected species. Thousands are shot and trapped on uplands across Scotland because land mangers fear that ticks they carry spread a viral disease, known as louping ill, which can be fatal to grouse.

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. This has been seized on by opponents of the killing.

Jonny Hughes, the chief executive of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, described the “slaughter in the Lammermuirs” as another blow to Scotland’s poor record on wildlife persecution. “We strongly condemn the wholly unnecessary persecution of these iconic mammals,” he said.

“We urgently need a national monitoring programme for mountain hares so any control that may be required is based on science, and only goes ahead as a measure of last resort.”

Duncan Orr Ewing, head of species and land management at RSPB Scotland, argued mass mountain hare culls were unsustainable, and the science behind them very thin. “Any reduction of mountain hares in the south of their range is of particular conservation concern as these are isolated populations, which are declining,” he said. 

“We are calling on the Scottish government to better regulate driven grouse shooting and introduce a system of licensing conditional on compliance with the law and best practice.”

The issue is now going to be raised in the Scottish Parliament by the Green MSP for Lothian, Alison Johnstone. “To hear reports of mass culls is deeply disturbing,” she told the Sunday Herald. "The commercial nature of large sporting estates must not be allowed to trample over the conservation of highly valued wildlife.”

A spokeswoman for the Duke of Northumberland confirmed that there had been a hare shoot on his estate in the Lammermuirs this year. “This was routine, carried out to control numbers and hence maintain balance within the fragile uplands habitat,” she said. “The bag was not exceptional, with all of the game sold to the local game dealer.”

Tim Baynes, director of the Moorland Group of the landowning organisation, Scottish Land and Estates, was critical of the RSPB and others for raising concerns. “Mountain hares breed very successfully in areas such as the Lammermuirs because grouse moors manage the habitat and control foxes and stoats which will predate young hares,” he said.

“However, breeding success brings its own problems because mountain hares are a vector for the sheep tick which carries diseases such as louping ill. Therefore their numbers are sustainably managed with culls carried out in the prescribed season at a level which does not endanger the population.”

The Scottish government, however, said it didn’t believe that the risk of disease would justify the “large-scale removal of mountain hares”. Added a spokeswoman: “We do have concerns about the intensification of management on some driven grouse moors, especially if it is associated with unlawful activity.” 

The government’s wildlife agency, Scottish Natural Heritage, stressed that mountain hares must be managed sustainably. Because of concerns over “possible over-exploitation”, the issue was under review by experts due to report in December.

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. Their populations can fluctuate dramatically, and they can thrive on grouse moors - except where they are 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 prompted a blog by Andrew Gilruth at the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, one at Raptor Persecution Scotland and one at Wildlife Detective.

Comments

[David]

Write to the Ralph Percy at Alnwick castle, telling him something that he clearly doesn't know; that he's a champion wanker and an anachronistic toff who should be hung in the market square.

[yvette]

omg how dreadful..I am so upset about this..is there is a link to sign

[David Bennett]

I'll try again. What I meant to write was:

Is there a case to put that the reason the hares are in decline is because of shoots every year or over a number of years?

[David Bennett]

It seems it is not the first year that this cull has been done or done in such numbers on at least on one estate - according to the spokeswoman for the Duke of Northumberland whom you quoted as saying that the bag was not exceptional.

Is there a case to put that the reason the hares are in decline is not because of shoots every year or over a number of years?

I wonder what the estimate is of the total hare population?

[Bettina]

Disgusting..."aristocratic landowners" are the rednecks of Europe.

[Sue Fryer]

So they think that killing the hares will stop the spread of disease to the grouse? Heaven forbid that they won't have enough grouse for the barbaric b*'*'*'s to slaughter as well! Turn the guns on the hunters and slaughter them instead - much more sporting and cost effective

[Christiine Knowler]

It leaves me speechless that one creature can be killed to 'save' another only for that to be killed. Too many wild animals are killed in the name of 'sport' for a very few people to enjoy. I would rather see hares and birds of prey in the countryside than grouse or pheasants being bred for enjoyment.

[Mike Gillett]

"The large-scale culling of mountain hares is not illegal, though they are a protected species" .... if this is what happens to protected species, what chance has wildlife got ?

[Nicholas Foster]

It's nothing short of disgusting and just goes to show how low these people will stoop in their pursuit of their so-called "SPORT". If these people are allowed to continue murdering our wildlife at this rate then soon there will be nothing left.

It's high time there was a total ban on the outdated Victorian era Red Grouse shoots on the estates, then at least the wildlife and the moorland environment may have a chance to recover.

[Fi Goldsmith]

Killing for the sake of killing...disgraceful. Taking a life is not a sport, there is no place for this primitive behavior in the 21st century.

[Richard Green]

Spotting wildlife is a joy for me and I find it disturbing that others see wildlife as a disposable commodity to be wasted in pursuit of so called sport. More should be done to conserve a whole range of species creating a natural balance instead of inhumane traps,poisons,shotguns etc. When I walk in local woodland apart from the odd small bird all I see and hear are hundreds of vulnerable semi tame Pheasants running about until the day arrives when a convoy of 4x4,s arrive ploughing through the terrain like an army of desert terrorists carrying Dogs and shotguns, to blast these hapless creatures to pieces. Sadly many call this sport and enjoyment.