Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill

On Thursday this week, we saw the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill 2023 voted through to Stage 2 by a landslide in the Scottish Parliament debating chamber by 82 votes to 32 - a brilliant step forward for a piece of legislation which could bring significant and much needed reform to the grouse moor management industry.

We had the privilege of being present for the debate, during which we heard many different perspectives on the potential impact of the Bill for Scotland’s countryside - including animal welfare, rural economy and biodiversity.

But what are the general principles of this Bill?

• A ban on the sale and use of glue traps

  A cruel and unnecessary form of wildlife trap.

• A ban on the use of snares

  As above, indiscriminate in what they catch which have included people’s pets as well as protected wildlife species causing immeasurable agony and slow deaths to anything caught in them. As tragically exemplified by Karen Adam MSP, whom we heard at the debate on Thursday speak about her own cat who recently returned home after several days missing, having lost a lot of weight with deep cut injuries around their neck, suspected to have escaped from a set snare.

• A licensing scheme for the use of other forms of wildlife trap

  Hundreds of thousands of foxes, stoats and weasels are estimated to be killed on grouse moors every year, according to the League Against Cruel Sports. But according to a report they carried out, around 40% of the animals caught were non-target species such as hedgehogs. A licensing scheme is vital to bring about some regulation and accountability of wildlife traps which imposes strict limits on their use to ensure animal suffering is minimal.

• A licensing scheme for land managed for grouse shooting

  Huge swathes of land in Scotland are managed for the purposes of maximising grouse populations for shooting, including the killing of wildlife and persecution of birds of prey. There is a historic link between grouse moors and raptor crime as found by organisations such as the RSPB who have shown significant numbers of satellite tagged birds of prey like golden eagles and hen harriers (both endangered species) “going missing” on or near driven grouse moors, as featured on Channel 4 news earlier this year. A licensing scheme, therefore, is the bare minimum required to stop the unregulated killing of protected wildlife for the purposes of… killing other wildlife more easily. Of course, ideally, we would ban the practice altogether. But this Bill is what is available to us at the moment to take a step in that direction.

• A licensing scheme for making muirburn

  An ancient practice used by land managers, muirburn involves the controlled burning of heather peatland for the purposes of reducing risk of wildfires, encouraging fresh heather growth, increasing biodiversity and enhancing grouse populations (for shooting). However, where muirburn is not made correctly, it can actually reduce biodiversity, reduce water quality, increase soil erosion and increase greenhouse gas emissions from the great stores of carbon found in peat. There is currently no regular monitoring of muirburn in Scotland. Given the potential impact on the current biodiversity and climate crises, a licensing scheme for muirburn to make sure it is being made responsibly is well overdue.

• An extension of powers of trained Scottish SPCA inspectors to investigate wildlife crime with Police Scotland

  Wildlife crime, especially in rural areas, is notoriously difficult to prosecute. If given extra training by Police Scotland, Scottish SPCA investigators would be able to assist by lending their expertise, carrying out on-the-ground searches and seizing evidence.

Thank you to all those who took the time to write to their MSPs to attend and/or participate in yesterday’s vote.

Next comes Stage 2, when we will likely see more detail worked out as to how to make the Bill’s principles more workable. We will keep our members and supporters updated - find out how to sign up to our mailings here.

But for now, we are over the first hurdle! Congratulations to everyone who has campaigned for this over so many years, especially our friends at Revive: the coalition for grouse moor reform. 👏