Meeting of the Parliament 27 January 2026 [Draft]
I remind members of my entry in the register of members’ interests—I own part of a family farm on Moray. I should also declare that I have been managing the environment on that farm and the local river that runs through it for 45 years. It was some 50 years ago that I first embarked on deer management, and I look forward to going back to that in April, when this session of Parliament is dissolved.
I will speak to amendments 24 to 26, which have been lodged by John Mason. They are interesting amendments, and I have some sympathy with amendment 24. It concerns the control of feral species, which are defined as animals
“in a wild state ... after escape from captivity or domestication.”
That is important, as it is something that, to my mind, we have not done properly in Scotland for some time. If we had done that, we would perhaps not now have the fallow deer and many of the other types of deer that are starting to move up from the Borders, nor would we have species such as the ruddy duck—or rather, we would have them, but we would be able to control them.
However, I am concerned about the amendment’s use of the term “feral species”, because the definition is quite wide ranging. Mr Mason may not have intended to bring in some of the animals that the term could cover. For example, it could be argued that “feral species” would include cats that have been released into the countryside, which could become feral and could therefore be part of a management plan. That might or might not be a good thing. In the case of the Scottish wildcats that are being reintroduced across the Cairngorms, the control of feral cats would be important, but in other areas it might not be.
Amendments 25 and 26 relate specifically to the sheep on St Kilda. I think that Mr Mason, by lodging the amendments, has done this country a service by making sure that the owners are aware that the Parliament is considering the problems with the sheep on St Kilda in a sensible way. They need to be controlled, as lack of control and management will result in all sorts of problems such as increased suffering, disease and starvation. That is completely unacceptable, and it would be unacceptable if they were on a farm on the mainland.
I personally would not seek to press amendments 25 and 26 to a vote, because I think that the point has already been made. Nonetheless, I will be interested to hear the Government’s response to amendment 24, because I think that the control of “feral species”, and preventing them from multiplying with or challenging our wild species, is important.