Report from Chris Smith
Hedgehog rescuers in race against time
Activists have until Monday to save 5000 from cull
By James Freeman in the Herald, 27 th February 2003
THE rescue operation to save the cull-threatened hedgehog population on the Uists has only caught five animals since the weekend, it emerged yesterday.
The Uist Hedgehog Rescue, the unofficial group of animal charity volunteers, are attempting to save the 5000 hedgehogs of Uist and Benbecula from extermination. But the hedgehog lovers only have until Monday when Scottish Natural Heritage carry out the first cull of the animals. Islanders have been recruited by SNH to carry out the cull.
SNH are carrying out the cull in an effort to help preserve the rare wading bird populations whose eggs are being eaten by the hedgehogs.
Lisa Frost, a trained hedgehog nurse from St Tiggywinkles Wildlife Centre in Buckinghamshire, said: "The five hedgehogs are all male, which you would expect as they emerge from hibernation first, and we have our first injured animal. He was found trapped in a rabbit fence and had slashed his nose.
"We will anaesthetise and stitch him up. We also have the first hedgehog returned by an islander, who received the £5 bounty, which is encouraging."
The rescuers have set up feeding stations monitored by volunteers to attract hedgehogs at dusk. Both the UHR operation and that mounted from Monday by SNH will be monitored by the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, who said yesterday any breach of protocols which caused suffering to the animals could be subject to criminal proceedings.
The SSPCA confirmed any animals caught by SNH's trained handlers would be given a whiff of isoflurane gas in a sealed box, knocking them out before they were injected with a lethal chemical. The corpses would be tagged and sent for analysis for parasites and disease.
An SSPCA spokeswoman criticised allegations made earlier by UHR that the SNH staff were temporary and untrained and would cause suffering to the hedgehogs. "We would not allow untrained people to euthanase animals," she said.
"We ourselves use people who are properly trained. They are not vets but are given full training. We have total access to the entire Scottish Natural Heritage operation and we know the animals are going to be treated respectfully."
The SSPCA said the people employed by SNH are experienced in trapping animals. Some have been employed in the major programmes to trap and eradicate mink, the spread of which the executive is trying to reverse in the Western Isles because of the toll on indigenous wildlife.
"We believe they are experienced field workers and conservation officers," the SSPCA spokeswoman added.
SNH, the executive's environment arm, has embarked on the programme to control the Uist hedgehogs amid heated controversy. The animals were introduced from the mainland two decades ago, but then escaped and multiplied.
They discovered a ready food source in the internationally-protected populations of waders which nest on the ground in North and South Uist and Benbecula.
The declines in some species, including nesting oyster catchers, dunlins, ringed plovers, snipe, redshank and lapwing has been spectacular, leaving the UK facing fines from the European Commission for failing to protect important bird populations.
SNH confirmed yesterday that a number of the hedgehog catchers recruited had experience in the mink-eradication programme. A management decision had been taken not to identify the personnel for security reasons. Interviews, even anonymously, could not be given because of the compressed timescale of the cull and the level of media interest, the SNH added.
© The Herald, February 27th 2003
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