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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