McGrigor: SNP has no strategy to protect mainland red deer

Jamie McGrigor MSP, Shadow Minister for the Environment, has today called upon the Scottish Government and Scottish Natural Heritage to take action to address a threat to one of Scotland's most iconic species, the red deer.

Mr McGrigor's call follows on from a series of written answers he has received from Environment Minister, Roseanna Cunningham, which suggest the Scottish Government are failing to take any concrete action to reverse the hybridisation of native red deer with introduced sika deer, thereby threatening the long term viability of the red deer population.

Specifically, the written answers show that the Scottish Government:

• Has no strategy to protect mainland red deer stocks from hybridisation with sika deer other than offering advice to deer managers worried about the problem.
• Hold no data on the number of sika deer or sika-red hybrids.
• Is leaving decisions on sika deer control to local land managers.

Jamie McGrigor MSP says:

"The red deer is a symbol of Scotland and one of our most iconic species. The fact that hybridisation with non-native sika deer is already underway is extremely worrying, however even more scandalous is the fact that the SNP Government appear to have no national strategy in place to reverse this trend.

"All Ministers appear to be offering is advice for deer managers at a local level, when what they should be doing is tasking Scottish Natural Heritage with the job of preserving the integrity of our native red deer stocks all across the country and not simply on the islands."

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