Campaign Success: NatureScot Quietly Releases Licence Data Into Public Domain - After Previously Claiming It "Would Not Be Viable"

Since 2019, NatureScot issued licences to kill:
3307 Ravens, 6507 Brown Hares, 4996 Mountain Hares, 6000 Gannets, 9448 Greylag Geese , 4809 Barnacle Geese....

Following pressure from our campaign, NatureScot has quietly released its detailed licence data into the public domain, in spite of telling me only last month that to process it "would not be viable".

NatureScot u-turns on decision
Last month, after a lengthy delay, NatureScot finally published a heavily edited set of licence data - but they rejected my call to share more detailed statistics, telling me that "while data on the specific numbers associated with each licence is very informative we concluded that the time taken to process this quantity of data would not be viable and would impede on current licensing demand."
On my blog last month, I lamented the fact that NatureScot had declined to follow the lead of Natural England, who, as a result of our campaign, now publish their complete licence data annually. 

Change of heart...
Last week, in an apparent change of heart, NatureScot updated the data on its official website to include a comprehensive set of statistics, including extensive details of its lethal control licences, which affect much of Scotland's wildlife.
I only discovered this u-turn by chance, after I contacted NatureScot earlier this week, proposing that I release the figures myself - if they weren't going to.
Although the updated data doesn't go as far as listing specific individual licences, we can now access much more detail, including the numbers of birds (and other animals) affected, which is perhaps the most significant data I had originally asked them to publish.
So, what brought about NatureScot's sudden change of heart? I think it's safe to say that this positive development happened as a result of the pressure put on them by the good folks supporting our campaign.
NatureScot now joins Natural England in publishing its previously hidden licensing data, so that it can be examined by the public.
It's a great result.

Figures reveal extent of lethal control
The figures themselves however are less cause for celebration.
With NatureScot overseeing a wide ranging programme of lethal wildlife 'control', Scotland is not a particularly safe place for many species.
The Scottish government's nature agency permits the mass killing of many species of birds as well as other forms of wildlife. 
Although the data suggests that there has been a welcome recent decline in the numbers of some species permitted to be killed, and a reduction in the final reported numbers, for other birds and mammals it's been a different story; for example Carrion Crows, Goosanders and Pink Footed Geese have seen an increase in the numbers killed over a four year period, while Ravens also continue to be killed in significant numbers. 
For many types of gull there has been a general reduction in the numbers reported to have been killed, though one has to ask the question whether this is due to the mass slaughtering of gulls that was previously facilitated by NatureScot. Gulls were licensed to be killed in particularly high numbers in recent years, so it's not surprising that they present less of a 'problem' now - perhaps there are just not that many left....

The fate of Scotland's Hares
Birds aside, the data also includes other animals, and I would draw your attention to the officially sanctioned persecution of Scottish hares.... Brown Hares and Mountain Hares are being killed in their thousands in Scotland, under licences issued by NatureScot. These licences are purportedly only issued for limited reasons including prevention of damage to forestry interests or for "social, economic or environmental purposes" (whatever that means). Nevertheless, NatureScot's licences permit the killing of thousands of hares, more than 11,000 since 2019, which is scandalous given that both Brown Hares and Mountain Hares are in steep and rapid population decline across the UK. 
In its defence, NatureScot would no doubt point to the lower numbers actually reported as killed on the licence returns, but the data speaks for itself and their licences continue to facilitate the mass slaughter of these increasingly rare mammals.

People power
So, anyway the data is out - please do take a look, it's important that we examine the statistics that we have worked hard to get released, and thanks to everyone supporting our campaign for helping to make the information available.
If there are any specific concerns arising from the data release, do let me know and I will raise them with NatureScot directly. I have (mostly!) good communication with them now, which is another very helpful result of our campaigning.

Thanks, as always, for your continued and amazing support.

​You can examine the updated NatureScot data HERE
Meanwhile the campaign continues HERE