Current status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 8 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported goal to cull an additional 50,000 deer annually, whether it has explored plans to implement infrastructure in the Central Belt and Lowlands, similar to that established in the Highlands, including community hubs.
The Scottish Government is committed to reducing high deer numbers in order to help us to achieve our biodiversity and carbon objectives. We are pursuing a range of actions to deliver this commitment including the provision of community deer larders and the three pilot incentive schemes led by NatureScot and the Cairngorms National Park Authority which launched in early autumn to financially support deer managers to control numbers of deer in specific parts of Scotland.
One of these pilots is in Central Scotland and focusses on lowland and urban roe deer management, as well as expanding red deer populations. We will work closely with NatureScot and the Cairngorms National Park as these pilots progress, and the findings from the pilots will be used to inform future deer management policy.