What does “protected” mean? In the case of the hen harrier, it means you can persecute the bird in any way you like. But worry not: you’ll never be punished. In the case of the badger, it means you can use the animal for sport if you want to. But worry not: there aren’t enough police to catch you. And in the case of the beaver, it means you can kill hundreds of them in just a few years and it will be seen, incredibly, as a conservation success.
This, I am afraid, is what a lot of conservation now looks like in Scotland: an absolute mess. The hen harrier has been protected for more than 60 years and yet it is persecuted with impunity. The badger has been protected since the 90s and yet badger baiting continues – I’ve been to some of the setts that have been targeted and believe me, it’s grim. And more recently, we’re going through it all again with an animal that should be at the heart of Scotland’s efforts to tackle climate change: the beaver.
To be fair to the Scottish Government and its agency with the rubbish name, NatureScot, they do accept in principle that the beaver is good for the natural world. Left to its own devices, beavers get on with building dams which change the way water settles and flows and encourage a greater diversity of species. The dams can also prevent flooding, which is one of the ways in which the planet has been telling us recently: for God sake, stop what you’re doing.
To be fair to the conservationists on the other side, they also appear to accept that the beaver’s activities, while undoubtedly good for the environment, can sometimes clash with commercial interests and that the Government wants to protect those. This is the reason it has a licensing system which can be used to remove a beaver or – when there is absolutely no alternative – kill it.
The problem is how the licensing system is being used, although you would have to look pretty hard to spot the facts when the figures on beavers were published this week. Great news!, said the government, beaver numbers in Scotland have surged to more than 1000 in three years!, what a success story! Except that’s only one way to look at the figures – another is that there could have been many more than 1000 beavers had 115 of them not been killed in 2020 alone.
The concern here is the concern that conservationists always have with licensing systems, which is that they are insufficiently robust and that licences-to-kill end up being waved through. This is what some people, me included, are worried will happen with the new licences for mountain hares. And we would have the same worry if a licensing scheme is ever introduced for grouse moors: everyone pretty much carries on as normal.
It is not entirely clear, yet, if this is the situation with beavers but the organisations who campaign for the animal, such as Trees for Life, believe NatureScot is not properly exploring all the options before approving the fatal one. Trees for Life quite reasonably argue that lethal control should only be considered when relocating has been categorically ruled out and it is hard to see how it could be when there is so much of Scotland that is suitable for the animals.
The answer – and if the Scottish Government disagrees with me, I urge them to take another look at the UN climate report this week – is to prioritise the environmental benefits of beavers and begin a search for other suitable sites in Scotland. Thereafter, in every case where commercial interests prevail and it is decided a beaver must go, it should be moved to a fresh site. And then I suggest we leave the animal to get on with its dam-building brilliance.
The other step the Government should take, urgently, is to ensure that its licensing system is properly robust and open to public scrutiny. How closely does NatureScot check the applications? Does it have the staff and resources to confirm the evidence? Does it have the staff and resources to check that the licences are being adhered to? I fear the answer is no. And you know who suffers? The beaver. The hen harrier. The badger. And, in the long run, us.
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