Scottish Countryside Alliance hosts Deer Management Parliamentary Reception

The Scottish Countryside Alliance alongside other stakeholder organisations, including Scottish Land & Estates, Association of Deer Management Groups, Scottish Venison, BASC and Scotland’s Moorland Groups hosted a deer management parliamentary reception. The evening was sponsored by Rhoda Grant, Labour MSP for the Highlands and Islands, and it was well attended by a number of MSPs, including Finlay Carson (Conservative MSP for Dumfries and Galloway), Edward Mountain (Conservative MSP for the Highlands and Islands), Ariane Burgess (Scottish Green Party MSP) and Tim Eagle (Conservative MSP for the Highlands and Islands and rural spokesperson for the party). Representatives from the Scottish Government and NatureScot were also present at the event.

This gave us and our partner organisations the opportunity to put our points across regarding the Scottish government’s proposals for changing the way deer are managed in Scotland. The main areas we wanted to address included:

• Listen to industry experts when formulating legislation surrounding deer and do not enforce unwanted or unrequired regulations.
• Prioritise and promote venison as a sustainable and healthy food source in our own country, creating a strong market for the future.
• Invest in this sector with the assistance of deer managers by formulating well-thought-out incentives or community facilities.

The Scottish Countryside Alliance prepared a briefing note for the event, outlining the key areas that parliamentarians and policy makers need to address when legislating for deer management in Scotland.

We had some very interesting discussions with attendees at the reception. The message reiterated time and again underlines the fact that it is vitally important that we send a collective message to the Scottish Government that the deer management sector require a well thought out plan to incentivise deer and wildlife managers in order to reach the desired cull figures. 80% of the nation’s deer management is conducted by deer stalkers acting in a private capacity, and without their support to carry out these operations, the scheme will fail to reach the proposed net zero targets and biodiversity gains the Scottish Government hopes to achieve by 2030.