EX-CRICKETER IAN BOTHAM HITS OUT AT RSPB OVER CONTROVERSIAL ORKNEYS STOAT-CULL PROGRAMME

The former Test cricketer's hard hitting article in The Daily Telegraph

IAN Botham may have retired from playing cricket, but that has not stopped him bowling bouncers on issues about which he feels strongly.

In a punchy article in last Friday's edition of The Daily  Telegraph, he hit out at the RSPB over its expensive project which aims to wipe out the stoat population in The Orkneys. 

The Sandy-based bird charity describes its initiative as the  'Orkney Native Wildlife Project' - in reality a controversial stoat eradication programme whereby the creatures are killed by lethal trap.

Stoats are not native to the Orkneys, but, since their arrival nine years ago, they have multiplied.

Because they are strong swimmers - at least over short distances - they are capable of moving from island to island.

The RSPB wants rid of them because they largely feed on ground-nesting moorland, grassland and coastal birds and their eggs, plus the unique Orkney vole.

However, culling creatures on a huge scale sits uncomfortably with many - including members of the charity which has not been particularly upfront about the project.

It is understood that it has engaged the services of a New Zealand company which has supplied both the traps - 20,000 of them  - and the expertise.

Some £7-million is said to have been earmarked for the project, with most of the monies coming from the Heritage Lottery Fund (£3.5-million), The European Union (£2.6-million) and the remainder from Scottish Natural Heritage and the RSPB itself.

The cull has the backing of the Orkney Islands Council, and also, so it is claimed, the majority of residents.

However, Botham is staggered by the scale - and cost - of the project.

"Is this the same charity that kills animals only as 'a last resort'?" he demands.

It remains to be seen whether the RSPB will correspond to the cricketer's article or whether, instead, it will hope the controversy blows itself out.