glen nevis (credit: addedsparkle)
A cull of deer by local wildlife charity the John Muir Trust has left dead deer lying around on Glen Nevis. 40 red deer were culled but because of the remote location they were left where they fell. Walkers enjoying the scenic views of upper Glen Nevis stumbled on the dead bodies.
After the walkers discovered the bodies they reported the find to the authorities and the wildlife charity the John Muir Trust (JMT) admitted that the deer were killed by their own marksmen as part of a planned cull of red deer. JMT property manager, Fran Lockhart, said to STV news, “Deer control is necessary to improve the condition of oak woodland, native Caledonian pine forest and blanket bog within the Ben Nevis Special Area for Conservation.
“A planned cull of deer in the area has taken place over several months in consultation with neighbouring landowners and Scottish Natural Heritage. Haunches are extracted where possible – however this part of Glen Nevis is particularly remote and difficult terrain.
“Leaving deer on the ground benefits biodiversity and the natural regeneration of habitats that have been impoverished through over-grazing.”
Deer culls are needed but…
One of the things we need to accept is that we need to cull deer in this country because we no longer have the top predators that keep the deer numbers in check. Until Scotland re-introduces wolves then culling is the only answer. We need to cull to protect habitat from overgrazing. The problem though is leaving the bodies of 40 red deer and calves lying around on the ground.
Can JMT really say leaving the bodies lying around on the ground benefits biodiversity. Scotland does have some scavengers but not many. It’s highly unlikely that Glen Nevis has sufficient scavengers to tackle 40 dead bodies in a reasonable amount of time. People in this country are very sentimental when it comes to wildlife and the JMT really was just storing up trouble for themselves by allowing this many carcases to be left in public view to rot away.
Impact on tourism.
Tourism is an important part of the Scottish economy- it’s worth £1.4 billion a year – the Gen Nevis area pretty much survives on tourism. Nobody expects, or wants, the countryside to be sanitised. Especially a wilderness area such as the Glens. But nobody wants to stumble on a large number of dead and mutilated (the ears had been cut off to prove the kill) deer as they go for their day’s hiking.
We don’t really have an animal welfare issue here but we do have a major PR problem. It doesn’t take a lot of common sense that when you cull deer in the winter months and you leave them to rot away naturally you are going to have problems. A lot of the animals who would scavenge on these carcases will be hibernating for the winter. The sub zero temperatures of the winter months will prevent natural decomposition from happening at normal rates.
If you cull deer at the start of the winter in Scotland the bodies are still going to be around not for weeks but for months. As the snow starts to clear people are going to put on their boots and go for a hike. A lot of them will get upset when they come across bodies on that walk.
Deer cull consequence a PR mistake.
Personally I would not have a problem if I stumbled across one or two dead animals on a day’s walk. Animals do die in nature. But if on my day’s walk I stumble across 5, 10, 15 ,20… or more carcases I probably would not go back to the area again.
I just can not help but think that someone made a big gaff here and it is not good publicity for local tourist based businesses at Glen Nevis.
