Row breaks out over plan to allow gamekeepers to cull hundreds of ravens

Alistair Grant Political Correspondent

A ROW has broken out over controversial plans to push forward with an “experimental” cull of hundreds of ravens.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has granted a group of farmers and gamekeepers a five-year licence to kill 300 birds in Perthshire.

But RSPB Scotland has now claimed the scheme has little to do with protecting wading birds, as claimed – and is instead a thinly veiled attempt to get rid of a perceived pest to benefit grouse shooting estates.

It said it was “outraged” to learn a licence had been given to Strathbraan Community for Waders, which says it represents “some of the local land management…and private interests in the area who value wading birds for their biodiversity, social and economic value to the area and to Scotland more widely.”

Continued