A report has revealed that around 260,000 animals are killed due to legal predator control practices in Scotland each year.
The ‘Killing to Kill’ report, which is calling for an end to the snaring, trapping and poisoning of animals on Scottish moors, has been signed by Scottish academics from the universities of St Andrews, Edinburgh, Stirling and Aberdeen as well as novelist J. M. Coetzee.
The 71-page report by the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics said each method of predator control “causes suffering, or prolongs suffering, or makes animals liable to suffering”.
The report condemned the use of snares because they “inevitably mean that animals can struggle for hours in considerable pain and distress”.
Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics director, Prof. Andrew Linzey, said: “This is a major moral issue. It simply cannot be right to cause tremendous suffering for non-essential purposes.
“When we began the report, we knew hardly anything about these control measures, but we have been staggered by the degree of suffering.
“Few people are cognizant of the situation. It is a much neglected and overlooked area of animal cruelty.”
Legislation
The report was written by the directors of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics: Dr Katie Javanaud, Dr Clair Linzey and Prof Andrew Linzey.
It concluded with a call for a “new charter for free-living animals”.
“Scotland could lead the way in pioneering legislation that encompasses not only domestic animals, but also free-living ones,” it said.
“This legislation should begin with the recognition of sentiency and enshrine in law the value and dignity of free-living animals such that their right to live unmolested is respected.”
The report said animals are killed in order to “artificially inflate” populations of grouse birds for shooting.
Director of the League Against Cruel Sports Scotland, Robbie Marsland, said: “The League Against Cruel Sports is not surprised that many people believe Scotland’s “grouse moors” are an animal ethics free zone.
“Polling shows that 76% of Scots do not support the practice of ‘predator control’ to kill hundreds and thousands of animals so that more grouse can be shot for entertainment. This report clearly outlines the ethical case against this uncontrolled killing.
“The biggest surprise is that any suggestion that this killing should stop is met with incredulity by the shooting fraternity.”
Marsland said he hopes the report will “open the eyes” of politicians considering the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill.
