Cawdor Estate: Mountain Hare Snare Slaughter
April 2008: NASC & LACS Special Investigation
Location: Cawdor Castle Estate, Nairn, Scotland, IV12 5RD
The Scottish parliament has recently decided not to ban snares in Scotland. View this story and see if you think they were right.
Following a tip off by a member of the public who found snared mountain hares, the National Anti-Snaring Campaign (NASC) conducted an investigation in conjunction with the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) into the Cawdor Estate.
The investigation has uncovered countless snares high in the mountains and the rotting bodies of dozens of mountain hares still in the snares. These snares were a mile from where a member of the public found snares, and due to the vastness of the grouse estate, it is likely that hundreds of snares exist. The area is believed to be part of the Cawdor Estate of which Cawdor Castle belongs.
Failing to check a snare every 24 hours is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, but in Scotland in 2004 this was reviewed and changed to the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act ("the 2004 Act"). Part 4 reads: A new requirement when carrying out an inspection to release or remove any animal caught in the snare whether it is alive or dead. Failure to remove an animal is an offence in its own right but the presence of a dead animal in any snare if it is clear that the animal has been there for more than 24 hours may now also constitute evidence of an offence under section 11(3) of the 1981 Act .
Mountain hares are blamed for the spread of Louping-ill which diminishes grouse numbers. The hares are also an important food source of food for Raptors, particularly Golden Eagles. Consequently, grouse moor owners have successfully maintained pressure to have them killed and the hares can be shot at certain times of the year, and a licence could be obtained to snare them in Scotland up until 2006. However, research by the League Against Cruel Sports has shown the Cawdor Estate last had a licence to snare hares in 2005, which was not renewed.
The Cawdor Estate comprises 60,000 acres based at the Cawdor Estate office, Cawdor, Nairn, IV12 5XP. It is owned by:
Cawdor Trusts
Colin Campbell (7th Earl of Cawdor)
Isabella Campbell (Countess of Cawdor), and
Angelica Campbell, (Dowager Countess of Cawdor).
The trustees are:
Sir Guy DI Kerr (10th Duke of Roxburgh)
Rt. Hon. Simon F Marquis (3rd Earl Woolton), and
Thomas Hughes-Hallett.
Cawdor Estate Notorious Recent History
The Cawdor estate is no stranger to controversy. In 2001 a member of the public found Golden Eagle on the estate, which was found to be poisoned.
In 2004, a mile east from where the snares were found, the LACS found a dead buzzard close to partridge pens. On examination at the SASA, it was found to have been poisoned with the pesticide Carbofuran.
Mountain Hare bodies were found being used as bait to attract foxes to snares in several lowland areas of Cawdor. The estate claimed at the time they were from "road kills". Other snares were found set across bridges, where a fox would be left hanging, and many snares were completely unanchored.
Also in 2004, 5 set gin traps were also found on the estate set around a rabbit carcass, a mile or so from Cawdor Castle by LACS investigators. A month later a bady injured cat, called "Sooty", returned home with a gin trap attached to its leg. It had wandered onto the Cawdor Estate!
Posted: 21.04.2008
