The Ferret Investigates

The Scottish Land Fund, set up to help community buyouts in the wake of the land reform movement, has become mainly a buildings fund and is heavily skewed towards a few local authority areas.

Journalist Richard Baynes finds that substantial sums from the fund have helped communities buy assets already in public ownership – using Government cash to buy property the Government or community already owns.

How badly has Scotland’s seabed been damaged, and should it be protected? Our podcast reporter, Richard Baynes, went to sea to find out for himself. The accompanying story is here on The Ferret. Photo thanks to Chris Rickard.

Journalist Richard Baynes explores the debate around deer culling in the Highlands of Scotland. 

Read more at https://theferret.scot/deer-cull-environmentalists-landowners/

Journalist Richard Baynes looks at the often controversial issue of deer management in the Highlands. 

A new report from Scottish Environment Link,  which brings together 39 wildlife, countryside and campaign groups,  proposes “statutory regulation” to cut deer numbers across Scotland.  That would mean telling landowners how many deer they are allowed to  keep and how many they must shoot – a move that would outrage estates  that run traditional stalking businesses.

Find out more at https://theferret.scot

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First published in September 2017, this report by Cormac Hourigan looks at the rise at self-harming in Scottish prisons. 

 Jim Cuthbert, an Edinburgh-based economist who investigates private finance projects explain why they have concerns over the use of private finance to fund new schools, health centres and roads in Scotland. This audio was originally published as part of this 2016 story in The Ferret:  https://theferret.scot/probe-private-finance-schemes-scotland/ 

Journalist Richard Baynes examines the science behind increased awareness of fish sentience and pain responses, the fears of campaigners about fish welfare, and the industry response to these concerns. This podcast was originally released as part of this August 2018 story on The Ferret:  https://theferret.scot/halt-salmon-farming-expansion/  

“They called them ‘sabia’ or ‘jaria. This means ‘female slaves’. Daesh viewed them as ‘spoils of war’,” said Dr Luma Hazim.

She was interviewed by The Ferret earlier this year when we visited Iraq to report on the impact of Islamic State’s violence in the region.

Dr Hazim runs a specialist centre in Iraqi-Kurdistan that helps Yazidi women who were abducted by IS – and she talked about the unimaginable crimes that women suffered.

She said that most women were raped multiple times. Many were gang raped and some had broken bones when they came to the centre. Scores of women had genital problems.

The Ferret met Dr Hazim in the Kurdish city of Duhok while travelling around the region to document the effect of Islamic State’s rule in some parts, following the terror group’s invasion in 2014.

During that period, Islamic State killed or kidnapped around 9900 Yazidis during wanton "medieval" violence.

Of that figure 3100 people were murdered. Almost half were executed by gunshot or beheading while others were burned alive.

IS also abducted nearly 6800 Yazidis – mostly women – who were forced into sexual slavery.

To find out more go to: https://theferret.scot/podcast-genocide-yazidis-scotlands-call-justice/