Simon Johnson, scottish
political editor
30 JULY 2018 • 1:57PM
A controversial licence to cull
of hundreds of protected ravens to protect threatened wading birds has been
suspended after officials found it was not scientifically "robust".
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH)
granted the five-year research licence to the Strathbraan Community
Collaboration for Waders (SCCW), in Perthshire, after curlew and lapwing
numbers dropped by more than half in only two decades.
The
initial licence allowed land managers to kill 69 ravens this year, with the
total reviewed annually thereafter. SNH said it represented
less than 0.5 per cent of raven numbers in Scotland.
But the natural conservation
agency commissioned its scientific advisory committee to review the study
following criticism from wildlife groups that it had no "scientific
justification."
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