As the first stage of the Natural Environment Bill reform process is drawing to a close, the Scottish Crofting Federation (SCF), alongside the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association (STFA) and other farming organisations, has written to Scottish Ministers and MSPs to propose a change to allow for the culling of deer on unimproved land which includes moorland on common grazings.
We are asking Scottish Government to amend Part 4 of the Natural Environment Bill on deer management in Section 26 of the Deer (Scotland) 1996 Act to allow the occupier to take or kill deer on any land to prevent damage, and to allow the culling of deer on common grazing moorland by an authorised person. This aligns with a proposal previously made by the Deer Working Group who suggested that statutory rights of occupiers to prevent damage by wild deer should apply to the occupiers of any type of land and cover public interests of a social, economic and environmental nature.
Under present legislation occupiers of land, such as farming and crofting tenants, have the right to cull deer causing damage to their crops and their improved land, but not on unimproved land such as moorland. However, deer are mobile animals that move around their local range, for example for better feeding or shelter. There are situations where deer run from inbye land and grassy areas of common grazings onto moorland, or where they wait for dusk on the moorland before crossing onto the grassy areas to graze during darkness.
SCF Chief Executive Donna Smith said: “It would be enormously helpful if the right to kill deer was extended to moorland areas of common grazings. Deer can cause damage to crofting interests including woodland, agricultural production or by competing with livestock for supplementary feeding. Further, deer are an important host for the breeding life cycle of ticks, many of which carry a range of diseases that can infect humans and farm animals.”
Ms Smith continued: “We strongly urge that a provision for culling deer on any land including moorland is included in the Natural Environment Bill, as it provides for a simple, low-cost measure that considerably strengthens the existing proposal.”
In addition to crofters and tenant farmers, the proposed amendment is also supported by other farming organisations committed to a Just Transition including the Landworkers’ Alliance, the Nature Friendly Farming Network, Nourish Scotland, Pasture for Life, Propagate and the Soil Association.
