Monday 31 December 2018

Scottish ministers urged to honour pledge to protect beavers


Wildlife groups say delay has allowed some farmers to systematically cull the animals
Severin Carrel lScotland editor
Fri 21 Dec 2018 06.01 GMTLast modified on Fri 21 Dec 2018 06.03 GMT
Wildlife experts have said wild beavers in Scotland are being trapped and shot because ministers have broken promises to make them a protected species.
A group of 17 prominent ecologists and conservation bodies have signed a letter to the Guardian urging the Scottish government to honour its pledge two years ago to legislate to protect more than 400 wild beavers in the southern Highlands and Tayside.
“Without this protection, beavers are subject to unregulated culling, which can take place any time, anywhere,” says the letter, signed by groups including the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. “This causes concern for the individual welfare of animals and the ability of the species to naturally spread through Scotland’s lochs and rivers. Lethal control must be a last resort rather than the go-to solution.”
A year ago the Scottish environment secretary, Roseanna Cunningham, told MSPs new regulations under the EU habitats directive would be in force in the first half of 2018 to prevent any unlicensed killing, dam destruction or relocation.


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