SCOTLAND’s conservation body has suspended a controversial plan to kill ravens just to see what would happen.
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) had issued a license to the Strathbraan Community Collaboration for Waders (SCCW) to carry out a cull of the birds to see if it made a difference to the number of nesting waders.
But after outcry from the RSPB and other campaigners, including Chris Packham, and a petition signed by more than 175,000 people, SNH asked their Scientific Advisory Group to look into the study and the methodology.
READ MORE: Anger at ‘experimental’ plan to kill hundreds of ravens
In a damning report, the boffins said the research being carried out by SCCW was “inadequate to provide robust scientific conclusions”. The group, made up of local landowners and gamekeepers, have “voluntarily suspended” the license.
A specific scientific advisory group will now be created to assist the project and will include members from the SNH Scientific Advisory Committee, the British Trust for Ornithology and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust.
This is a big win for campaigners. The Scottish Raptor Study Group had taken the unprecedented step of launching a legal challenge in the form of a judicial review, after a crowdfunding campaign raised more than £25,000.
Professor Des Thompson, Principal Scientific Adviser on science and biodiversity at Scottish Natural Heritage, said: “Our Scientific Advisory Committee has provided us with a detailed assessment and very helpful pointers to further work at Strathbraan and more widely.
"In particular, the committee notes that more needs to be done to understand the effects of predation by ravens and other factors in driving down wader numbers.
“We need to learn from this trial, and the experience and knowledge gained, and move on to develop advice and support for action on the ground to benefit waders.
"Having a Scientific Advisory Group will be a huge help in developing the work.”
An RSPB Scotland spokesperson said: “We welcome the decision by SNH to suspend the research licence for the contentious Strathbraan raven and wading bird project, following the recent input and advice from its Scientific Advisory Committee.
"We also appreciate the promise to involve a wider stakeholder group in developing next steps, including a properly constructed research trial, which considers the full range of factors that may be having positive or negative impacts on wading bird populations in the Strathbraan area.”
READ MORE: No pause in plan for raven cull despite scientific scrutiny
On their blog, the Scottish Raptor Study Group wrote: “The Scientific Advisory Committee’s condemnation of this licence was fully expected.
"It’s good that SNH has now finally accepted this expert opinion but it could have avoided having to make this embarrassing climb down if it had consulted these experts BEFORE issuing the licence, instead of several weeks after the killing had begun.
"It beggars belief that the Government’s statutory scientific conservation agency issued this licence based on the old wives tales spun by gamekeepers instead of seeking the opinions of well-respected professional scientists.”
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