New hunting bill policy leaving deer to die - contractors having to leave wounded animals - Scottish Gamekeepers Association

Contracted wildlife managers are being forced to let injured deer die agonisingly in woods due to a policy from Scotland’s forestry body in the wake of the Hunting with Dogs Bill.

Deer managers, paid to control deer in public forests, are obligated to take with them a trained tracking dog in the event a deer may be injured and can’t be located during culling.

If an animal is not instantly killed, it can run off with serious injury into cover and can suffer a lingering death lasting many hours if not found and humanely dispatched.

Best practice training recognises that the use of a tracking dog to locate the wounded animal is the quickest method to minimise suffering, as deer managers can struggle to find the injured animal, especially in thick cover or darkness.

However, professional contractors are having to let wounded animals die in pain due to a policy position adopted by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) in response to the Hunting with Dogs Bill.

Passed by Parliament earlier this year, the legislation makes allowance for the use of a dog to track an injured deer, providing the dog is under control.

However, FLS has gone a bar higher with an in-house position stating deer managers should not use a tracking dog if they cannot guarantee it remains within their sight.

Now professional deer managers are reporting they are having to let injured deer go because a dog entering cover such as Clearfell, high grass or dense bracken could see them in contravention of FLS policy.

Several have contacted their representative body, The Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA), claiming the policy runs counter to their industry training and their respect for the welfare of animals.

The SGA has subsequently written to Minister Mairi McAllan, who introduced the Bill, to see whether the FLS policy is in keeping with the spirit of the legislation.