A FUND in memory of a renowned stalker whose gun Prince Charles once carried has been launched to challenge the treatment of red deer by officialdom.
Lea MacNally, who died in 1993 aged 66, spent his life championing deer welfare as a stalker and National Trust for Scotland's first ranger/ecologist as well as being the author of six renowned books on Highland wildlife.
Prince Charles knew of his work, and a few years before Ms MacNally died he invited him to Balmoral to shoot. The prince insisted on acting as his stalker for the day.
The family of the late Highlander now say they can no longer sit idle while everything he worked for is undermined by the threat they believe is posed to red deer in Scotland by conservationists and the management of Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).
His youngest son, Michael MacNally, 60, said: "Deer was not just an interest for my father, it was his passion. Deer welfare was his principal concern. He would be horrified at what is going on just now, particularly with out-of-season shooting. Conservation groups are battening on deer as a whole and treating them as vermin. Anything that can be done to fight this must be worthwhile."
The family's opening donation to the fund, run through the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA), has financed a response to the Scottish Government's deer management vision, Wild Deer: A National Approach.
The work, by controversial ecologist Dr James Fenton, challenges some major aspects of central thinking on deer management, principally in relation to deer culling and the regeneration of native woodlands.
Robbie Kernahan, SNH's Head of Wildlife Operations, said: "We have clear, practical best-practice guidelines on deer management and welfare and we have recently made significant legislative changes to ensure deer cannot be culled when there is a risk of dependent young being orphaned."
He added: "We are continuing to work with the industry to ensure that anyone who shoots deer in Scotland is competent to do so."
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