Chamber and committees

Keith Talbot submission of 30 September 2021

PE1859/L: Retain falconers rights to practice upland falconry

I am writing regarding the above Petition – to ‘Retain Falconers rights to practice upland falconry in Scotland’. I am writing as both a veterinary surgeon with 13 years of experience dealing with avian patients and also as a practicing falconer. 

The original amendment of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, passed in June 2020, whilst not aimed at falconers and their birds has, because it was rushed through without due care and consideration to the mental and physical welfare of many captive birds of prey, left their welfare severely compromised. 

As a veterinary surgeon we have to consider the five freedoms of animals welfare in captivity, amongst these is the ‘freedom to express normal behaviour’. Birds of prey are, by definition, predators and the most normal and natural behaviour for them is to fly free and hunt. There is no doubt that as a veterinary surgeon we see behavioural problems including feather plucking and self mutilation in birds that are not allowed to express these natural behaviours. Hunting keeps the bird physically fit and mentally conditioned. We hunt mountain hares with long lived species, such as Golden Eagles and Buzzard type birds like Red Tailed Buzzards, these birds currently in captivity are best suited to hunt vast open spaces that moorland offers, and are most suited to hunting a natural quarry – the mountain hare. 

In hunting with a bird of prey we naturally are far more likely to catch the weaker, older or infirmed hares, thus naturally selecting for a healthier population of hares going forwards. This amendment will prevent all of this and instead give certain estates licences to shoot a number of hares. Ironically I have no doubt that this will result in a population decrease of hares. Many estates including ones I have flown on have actively avoided mass culls of hares in order to allow us to take a few hares with our birds. Falconry therefore incentivized the maintenance of a good population of mountain hares. 

Due consideration should have been given to falconry and the individual birds involved before this amendment was passed, the failure to do so has resulted in a welfare situation and this needs to be rectified with an exemption for the taking of mountain hares with birds of prey.