Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Call to investigate Highland deer cull after dozens of carcusses are left to rot on hill

A red deer stag
A red deer stag

The Scottish Government has been urged to investigate claims a conservation charity left dozens of deer to rot on a Highland hillside.

Gamekeepers and the John Muir Trust (JMT) clashed again last night amid a bitter row over a deer cull at Knoydart.

The Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) urged the Holyrood government to intervene after the Press and Journal reported last week that 86 stags were shot at Li and Coire Dhorcail this summer – and that many of the carcasses were left on the ground.

It was claimed the practice was “disrespectful to the animals” and had cost the local area £100,000 in wasted venison and income from visiting stalkers.

But the JMT said thousands of deer die a painful death of starvation every year on hillsides because of overpopulation – and that gamekeepers were trying to “deflect attention” from scrutiny as Scotland ponders greater land reform.

An SGA spokesman said: “The only body who can scrutinise this incident properly to decide whether it is in the best interests of deer, best practice or the local people in Knoydart, therefore, is Scottish Government.

“The lobbying charity has claimed this is about repairing ecological damage. If a private estate did this, there would be an outcry. Leaving deer in this manner has nothing to do with environmental repair.”

Mike Daniels, JMT’s head of land management for the charity, said: “As the Scottish Gamekeepers Association is well aware, many thousands of deer die on our hillsides each winter – including hundreds in the Knoydart area – because deer populations are too high and they are desperately seeking food and shelter.

“These deaths from starvation and lack of woodland shelter are slow and painful – and are a direct consequence of management practices that aim for high deer numbers for sport shooting regardless of animal welfare or ecology.”

He added: “We suspect that the main motivation for this attack from the Scottish Gamekeepers Association is to deflect attention away from Scotland’s unsustainably high deer population, which is coming under increasing scrutiny as land reform climbs up the political agenda.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “We support a collaborative approach to deer management and urge all land managers to work together to ensure that all aspects of the public interest are safeguarded in the way that deer are managed.

“Land managers should make every effort to remove carcasses off the hill, but managers can use their judgement when health and safety issues make extraction of carcasses impossible or too expensive.”