Report from Chris Smith
Hedgehog cull to continue - with 186,000 budget
By John Ross in The Scotsman, 17 th December 2003
THE controversial cull of hedgehogs in the Western Isles is to be extended next year after
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) agreed it was necessary to protect important populations of
native birds.
The animals will continue to be hunted in North Uist, where 66 of the estimated 90 hedgehogs
were caught and given a lethal injection last year, and will also move into Benbecula.
It is then planned to continue the cull in South Uist in 2005-06 as part of the strategy to
eradicate entirely the 5,000-strong hedgehog population from the islands.
However, SNH has agreed to hand over 60 animals it captures next year to the People's Trust
for Endangered Species to see whether they can successfully be relocated to the mainland,
although it will not contribute towards the expected £160,000 cost.
Yesterday, Les Ward, from Advocates for Animals, said he was "extremely disappointed and
disgusted" at SNH's decision to continue the cull.
He said: "They make themselves out to be arbiters of animal welfare but they are not geared
up for that. Those bodies who are geared up for it have safely rehabilitated over 5,000
hedgehogs over the years.
"SNH will not pay towards the relocation trial, but instead will ask a welfare body to find
£160,000 to pay for it. Some people might question if this is to stop the trial being done."
He said an urgent meeting of animals rights groups is being called: "One of the subjects we will
be discussing is a return to the islands to frustrate SNH’s killing policy."
The cull in North Uist started on 7 April, amid strong opposition. Animal rights groups
caught 150 animals themselves in different parts of the Western Isles and moved them to the
mainland.
The islands support some of the most important populations of breeding waders in the
British Isles, such as dunlin, redshank and oystercatcher.
A survey in 1983 showed the islands held at least 17,000 pairs of breeding waders, including a
quarter of the total UK breeding population of both dunlin and ringed plover and about 10 per
cent of the UK population of redshank. Subsequent surveys carried out in 1995 and 2000
found that wader numbers on South Uist and Benbecula had declined dramatically.
The cost of this year's work, which included the cull and research on the birds, was £90,000.
The budget for next year has been capped by the SNH board at £186,475. It will see a
doubling of manpower from one squad of about four workers to two squads.
John Markland, the chairman of SNH, said the decision to continue the cull had been taken
with reluctance. He said: "These hedgehogs should not be there. They have been moved there
by man but they are causing a devastating impact on the wading birds. We have decided that
we must continue with the cull. We are moving from North Uist to Benbecula because that is
where the hedgehogs are moving and it's important that we deal with those areas."
Mr Markland said SNH is prepared to review its position after the relocation trial: "The
reason we haven't done that in the past is because of the scientific evidence that was available
to us.
"There is lots of evidence that hedgehogs could be moved into areas where we can show that
there is significant death rate. We want to mount a scientific trial to check whether those facts
are correct."
He said SNH has been left with no option but to continue the cull despite the controversy
surrounding it
.
"This is not a popular area of public policy. Nobody would choose to do this. Nobody wants
to do this, but we feel we have been faced with a very difficult situation and we feel we have
no alternative."
In October, a survey showed 75 per cent of people questioned agreeing with the need to kill
the non-native hedgehogs to protect important species of birds in the islands.
The revelation, which surprised both animal rights groups and SNH, came from a study by
the Scottish Economic Policy Network (Scotecon), a network of economists based in
Scotland's 12 universities.
© The Scotsman, 17th December 2003
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