By Jamie Mann in The Ferret
|
| Nearly 50,000 wild animals spanning 84 species have been licensed to be killed by Scotland’s wildlife agency in recent years, The Ferret has found. |
| Data provided to The Ferret by NatureScot details the permissions given to “controllers” – farmers, landowners and others – to kill animals between 1 June 2019 and 15 June 2023. |
| At least 46,985 animals were licensed to be killed, including thousands of geese, gannets, gulls, ravens, goosanders and the iconic mountain hare – Scotland’s only native rabbit or hare species. |
| Buzzards, robins, herons and magpies were also targeted. In cases mostly relating to public health and safety, controllers were permitted to kill as many animals as required. |
| They included declining species such as oyster catchers, lapwings, starlings, curlews and rooks. |
|
