Report from Chris Smith
Hedgehog cull due to begin
FromBBC Scotland News, 7 th April 2003
A cull of hedgehogs on North Uist in the Western Isles is set to get under way.
Government agency Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is going ahead with the £90,000 conservation measure, which aims to kill 200 of the animals this year.
From Monday night, a lethal injection will be used to exterminate hedgehogs trapped by the organisation.
However, animal welfare groups have launched two separate efforts to save as many of the animals as possible.
Multiplying and spreading
Hedgehogs have been multiplying and spreading since a handful were introduced 30 years ago to keep down garden pests.
There are now about 5,000 in the Western Isles.
Scientific evidence has shown the animals eat the eggs of ground-nesting birds.
Hedgehogs feeding on snipe, lapwing and redshank eggs have sent bird numbers on the island into freefall in recent years.
SNH spokesman George Anderson told BBC Scotland: "If we were not to take any action to stop this problem what would happen over a number of years is that the bird numbers would collapse.
"The hedgehogs would keep eating the eggs until the bird population had gone down to almost nothing."
He said studies had suggested that hedgehogs would compete for food if moved to a new area.
"Some of the animals you move in will starve and some of the animals already there will starve, so you have got an awful lot of upset and distress for the animals," he said.
However, the research has been questioned by a consortium of animal welfare groups which includes Advocates for Animals and the St Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital.
Save hedgehogs
They are now trying to save as many hedgehogs as possible from the cull.
Ross Minett, of Advocates for Animals, said the activists would not physically try to stop those involved.
"We are not here to break the law, we are here to save hedgehogs," he said.
"We are here to appeal to SNH not to cull them because they don't need culling."
Activists have been leaving out cat food in an attempt to attract the hedgehogs as they come out of hibernation.
Mr Minett said that the animals caught would be taken to a suitable location where supplementary food would be provided.
The consortium is attempting to buy local knowledge by offering islanders £5 for each hedgehog they catch.
However, Susan Rothwell of the Uist Animal Visitors Centre said she had a better chance of tracking down the animals and had already sent 40 to the mainland by car.
She is running her own rescue operation after falling out with the other welfare groups, who accused her of involvement in blood sports because her partner uses dogs to control rabbits.
Ms Rothwell said: "They needed an excuse to get out of the visitors centre because we refused to let them bring their army of volunteers to crash out.
"We weren't having any part of that. It is a rescue mission.".
© BBC Scotland News, April 7th 2003
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