Ravens could soon be killed without a licence in Scotland due to a new consultation being carried out affecting the laws which protect the birds.
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is considering including ravens in their general license laws, meaning land owners could kill the currently protected species without permission.
General licences enable land managers and other parties to cull birds for a variety of reasons including public health, safety and preventing damage to agricultural land.
SNH has come under fire for their inclusion of ravens in the new consultation.
Andy Wightman, Scottish Green MSP, said the proposal would allow the “free slaughter” of ravens in Scotland.
Mr Wightman said: “This consultation was meant to be about improving protections for birds, but incredibly Scottish Natural Heritage has used it as a vehicle to allow the free slaughter of ravens, a protected species.
“SNH’s proposals would mean that land managers could freely kill as many of these magnificent birds as they like, with no monitoring or oversight, which is particularly astonishing given only last year SNH got into hot water for awarding a licence to kill up to 69 ravens a year.
“SNH is meant to protect Scotland’s natural heritage but once again it has shown it is completely unable to stand up to vested interests.
“I hope that they will walk away from these ridiculous proposals to kill yet more wildlife and focus on stopping the epidemic of wildlife persecution that continues across Scotland.”
SNH responded by saying no decision had yet been taken and encouraged people to reply to the consultation.
A SNH spokesperson said: “As part of the consultation process we have asked for a range of views, including on the levels of damage perceived to be caused by raven and greylag geese.
“No decisions have been taken on removing licence restrictions on the killing of any wild birds, including ravens.”
The consultation is available at www.nature.scot/snh-launch-general-licence-consultation-0
