Scottish Natural Heritage reputation in "tatters" after sanctioning slaughter of 300 ravens

Scottish Natural Heritage’s (SNH) decision to license the slaughter of 300 ravens in Perthshire has been widely condemned. A petition to prevent the raven cull has now gained nearly 30,000 signatures. Scottish Natural Heritage have authorised the culling of ravens in Perthshire as part of a five year experiment to see if the breeding of another species of birds would improve if there were less ravens around. As the petition points out to  "propose culling these beautiful and intelligent birds as an experiment without any shred of evidence whatsoever is just plain wrong!" TV naturalist, Chris Packham, has said the reputation of  SNH lay in “bloodied tatters” after its “ill-judged and ruinous” decision. Ravens hold a significant place in both Celtic and Norse Mythology and oppostion to the SNH plan is mounting.