Wildlife crime in Scotland: annual report 2021

7. Scottish Government

This section sets out details of specific projects carried out by or on behalf of the Scottish Government over the time period of this report.

The use of dogs to control foxes and other wild mammals in Scotland

The 2021/2022 Programme for Government contained a commitment from the Scottish Government to:

"Introduce a Bill this year to strengthen the law relating to the use of dogs to hunt and flush foxes and other wild mammals, implementing the majority of the recommendations of the independent report on the Protection of Wild

Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002, and introduce further measures such as preventing trail hunting."

This follows ongoing concerns about the effectiveness of the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 which were the subject of a government review led by Lord Bonomy. Lord Bonomy's report is available on the Scottish Government Website.

As the Scottish Government has already consulted on the recommendations made by Lord Bonomy, a consultation was launched on the 29 October 2021 on the proposals made by the Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment on 9 January 2019 as they pertain to the hunting of wild mammals with dogs. These proposals were:

• The implementation of the majority of Lord Bonomy's recommendations
• A new limit of no more than two dogs to be used to flush foxes or other wild mammals from cover
• Consideration of a licensing scheme permitting more than two dogs to flush foxes or other wild mammals from cover where necessary for the purposes of pest control; and
• Provision to discourage the establishment in Scotland of the practice known as "trail hunting" as this poses significant risks for wild mammals.

The consultation ran until the 15 December 2021 and a full analysis of the consultation responses is available.

Grouse Moor Management

A report on the environmental impact of grouse moor management practices was published on 19 December 2019. The Scottish Government provided a response to the recommendations on 26 November 2020. The response announced our intention to licence grouse moors and deliver the recommendations.

The 2021-22 programme for government subsequently contained a commitment to deliver the recommendations of the Werritty report as a matter of urgency, including the licensing of grouse moors.

Licensing or further regulation of grouse moors will cover the key areas identified in the review, including muirburn, wildlife control, the use of medicated grit and wildlife crime. Licensing will be supported by clear penalties to encourage compliance, as well as additional effort to detect wildlife crime.

The full Scottish Government response to the recommendations provides further detail.

Deer Management

There was a 2020-21 Programme for Government commitment to "modernise deer management, implementing the recommendations of the Deer Management Working Group".

We published our response to the report by the independent Deer Working Group on 24 March 2021. The Scottish Government accepted the majority of the ninety-nine recommendations.

Given the links between deer management and biodiversity, Scottish Government have established a project under the Scottish Biodiversity Programme Board to encompass legislative and non-legislative components of ensuring effective deer management. This will ensure an appropriate level of governance, but will also bring deer management into consideration alongside biodiversity as the SBS progresses.

The Deer Project Board is comprised of senior officials from NatureScot, Forestry and Land Scotland, Scottish Forestry, CNPA and LLTNPA, and is chaired by Donald Henderson (Deputy Director, Nature Division). The board first met on 1 November 2021 and minutes are uploaded to the Scottish Government website.

The project board has a focus on four workstreams: legislative; incentives; regulation and operational delivery. These workstreams have now met for the first time and are progressing priority actions.