On Monday we launched our report, Mountain Hare Persecution in Scotland, and exposed the scale of persecution and, in particular, commercial hunting of this iconic native species. Our report lists in an annex 25 companies that offer recreational mountain hare killing services and we pulled out three for special mention. Once this was apparent to the three, some rather sudden changes took place.
- Viscount hunting
Until this week Viscount were advertising driven mountain hare hunting packages in Tomatin, an area that is becoming infamous for mountain hare persecution.
Now they’ve changed their tune. These packages are no longer advertised and instead they are saying ‘hunting experiences will exclude Mountain Hare shooting as of the 2017 shooting season”. Well done them. However, they then go on to claim that they are operating “firmly in line with the current position of the Scottish Wildlife Trust”. It will be interesting to see what the SWT say about that!
- Balavil Estate
Until this week, Balavil Estate appeared to be advertising mountain hare shooting and even boasted that they were killing upwards of 2000 hares a year. This is what the website looked like:
On Friday the estate got in touch with us to say that the estate changed hands in 2015 and this website belonged to the previous estate owners. They said:
“A website set up by the previous owners of the Balavil Estate does not present an accurate description of the estate as it is today. We are seeking to close this website which is not in our ownership. Since 2015, Balavil Estate has had a new owner who is investing in land and properties on the estate, particularly in relation to its farming activities. The estate has no plans for hare shooting.”
This is what the Balavil Estate looks like as of this week:
We’re delighted to have helped Balavil Estate finally take this site offline after two years of negotiations, and we’re also delighted that they have no plans for hare shooting too!
- VisitScotland
Mirani Hunting, an international hunting tour provider, advertises its wares on Visit Scotland here. Until this week the following image was displayed to attract visitors to our fine country.
Suddenly, it’s no longer there. It’s a shame the company is though, and Visit Scotland are still endorsing the Scottish Country Sports Tourism Group, who advertise plenty of other businesses who offer recreational mountain hare killing. Nice…
With the same discussion and public support for #HareCare from @strathearnrose last year, as well as a call for a population count. What has happened to ensure that this species is protected from the unknown numbers slaughtered in our uplands by folk intent on killing/removing
this special animal
Hi Andy – thanks for your comment and sorry we missed it until now. Yep, we’re still waiting for Scottish Government action on this, and will keep the pressure on until it happens. One glimmer of hope is that the Scottish Government have set up an inquiry into grouse moors, starting in the Autumn. We hope this will result in an end to mountain hare culls and much more…