Gamekeepers want to kill birds of prey

Gamekeepers on some of Scotland's top sporting estates are demanding a licence to kill protected birds of prey which they claim are devastating game stocks and threatening their livelihoods.

A week after the Scottish Parliament introduced tough new legislation to arrest and imprison anybody who poisons, traps or shoots birds of prey, the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) has launched a campaign for special dispensation.

The association is calling for the numbers of common raptors such as hen harriers which kill grouse and pheasants to be restricted on vulnerable shooting estates. According to the SGA, raptor numbers have soared over the past decade. "The SGA are not asking for people to be allowed to kill protected species willy-nilly but for licences to be available for the removal of problem birds," said Alex Hogg, chairman of the SGA.

The Scottish Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said raptors were not responsible for damage to the numbers of grouse and that gamekeepers were exaggerating. "They are making Scotland's birds of prey scapegoats for any difficulties that shooting estates might experience," a spokesman said.