Hansard

The island of Rum contains one of the oldest-known sites of human habitation in Scotland and it was not so long ago that it had a population of well over 400. In the 19th century, the cousin of the laird, Dr Lachlan Maclean, discovered that he could increase the island's rental value from £300 per annum to £800 by substituting sheep for people and about 400 souls were forcibly repatriated from Rum as a result. Today, the population of the island is very small. The matters that Jamie McGrigor has raised focus on another sad chapter in the beleaguered history of Rum.

I support the motion and congratulate Jamie McGrigor on it, because I know that the proposed cull has caused a great deal of concern among a wide spectrum of people—it is wrong to say that the objections were stimulated by any one body. SNH's plans for a deer cull go well beyond what is reasonable. One is reminded of the slaughter of deer at Glenfeshie not so very long ago, which stimulated an outrage. Glenfeshie and Rum are both in my constituency and I am well aware of the strong emotions that are aroused. The fact that the deer is a symbol of Scotland has been brought home to a great many more people by the "Landward" programme. The idea that that animal, uniquely, should be subject to state slaughter seems to be at odds with the approach to animal welfare issues that is adopted with every other species. It seems that deer is not only the unprotected species, but the species that is picked out for state slaughter by SNH, with the connivance of the Executive and other state agencies. Quite frankly, that is simply wrong and I welcome the opportunity that the debate gives us to say so.

The policy of not fencing forestry is misconceived and has been shown to fail. A recent expert report has highlighted that the conventional wisdom that is apparent among Deer Commission for Scotland and SNH ranks, according to which deer are the source of the problems on our landscape and our hills and the cause of overgrazing, is incorrect. Sheep and cattle have been found to be the main contributing factors. Any justification for the slaughters that have taken place has been removed by that recent report, which—we are told—was not published until it had been peer reviewed.

I hope that SNH will change tack. Along with others, I raised the issue with Andrew Thin, who is the chairman of SNH. He replied stating that the deer cull this winter would be a normal maintenance cull—in other words, deer would be culled only to maintain a steady population. He said that he could not predict future culls until there had been proper consultation on the new management plan, but that SNH would most certainly involve local people and all other interests in the process and would certainly make public the results.

SNH's plans for forestry on Rum were put forward as part of a woodland grant scheme, which, initially, proposed blankets of forestation. I am informed by someone who was close to the situation that SNH then discovered something that one would have thought that it would have known—that a certain conservation designation applied, which stopped them from planting pine trees over the bogland that covers most of the island. In other words, SNH was aware that its own plans were incompetent because of the designation that applied to part of the land. It is a pretty rich irony that SNH, which is supposed to be in charge of designations, was apparently not aware of the consequences of a designation for its own forestry plans. The plans had to be changed.

The real victims are the community of Rum. There should have been two plans for Rum: on forestry and on community development. SNH has been supposed to promote community and social development on the island since around 1997, but since then people have left Rum, an uninsured house has burned down and not been replaced, businesses have been stymied and the efforts of people such as Charles King—and Andrew Thin, before he became chairman of SNH—have come to nothing.

The problem is that SNH has control over the island—Rum is a company island. I wrote to Ross Finnie to suggest that that should change, because SNH was set up not to control islands but to advise on the environment and natural heritage, but he dismissed my suggestion out of hand. Since then, more people have left the island and the community is insecure. It would be unfair to name people who live on the island, because there are so few of them, so I have chosen not to do so.

The situation is a bloody tragedy for Scotland and the Executive has turned a blind eye to it. This most recent chapter in Rum's history is a sad one. The proposal for a cull has aroused anger, because it is not supported by the people of Scotland or by the experts. The advice of people who know about the subject, such as the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, has been consistently ignored, despite the fact that I suspect that SGA members have more knowledge of the Highlands' red deer population in the tips of their fingers than have all the so-called experts who are in charge.

I hope that there will be a chance for a new start in May, so that we can listen to the experts and say no to the proposals for the cull of red deer. Jamie McGrigor was right to highlight the issue.