Listen
Protecting Scotland's wild deer
11/11/2008
A new multi-agency agreement to safeguard wild deer in Scotland as a national asset was launched today.
The strategy, Scotland's Wild Deer: A National Approach, reaches consensus on the best way to protect and manage deer populations and habitat by balancing environmental, economic and welfare concerns.
It builds on three key themes:
- Managing deer to protect and secure a high quality natural environment
- Sustainable economic development, and
- Maintaining social well-being
Mr Russell said:
"Wild deer are a huge asset to Scotland - an important part of the rural economy, integral to Scotland's biodiversity, and a source of healthy food and recreational opportunities.
"This new approach sets out ways to make the most of this asset. To manage deer for the benefit of the nation while ensuring deer welfare is safeguarded.
"It sets out a vision that, in twenty years time, there will be widespread understanding of and achievement in sustainable deer management.
"The need to balance the environmental, economic and deer welfare objectives of the Scottish nation with the objectives that private landowners have for forestry, agriculture, sporting and other forms of land use is a challenge.
"This new approach seeks to address this head on by setting out principles to guide and balance different interests and bringing a more inclusive approach to the management of all the deer species of Scotland.
"The Strategy is a good example of the sort of joint working that this government wants to see in managing the environment, in the same way that we have been developing better ways to deliver rural services through the Sears project."
The Deer Commission has been tasked to work with partners in considering what changes may need to be made to ensure the deer legislation to support the strategy. The Commission will also present proposals on ensuring the competence of those who shoot deer and how deer management is best organised at a local level.
The strategy was prepared as a joint agency approach by the Deer Commission Scotland working closely with the Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Forestry Commission Scotland.
More than 100,000 deer are culled in Scotland each year, generating an income of over £105 million for the Scottish economy.
DCS will present recommendations to the Minister on how better to safergurad welfare and facilitate sustainabale deer management at the local level by Christmas 2008.
The Scottish Government will bring forward proposals early next year to merge DCS with SNH as part of the simplification of arrangements for managing the natural environment.