Report from Chris Smith
Hedgehog cull extended on Western Isles
By Gerard Seenan in The Guardian, 17 th December 2003
A controversial programme to cull hedgehogs on the Western Isles is to be
extended, Scottish Natural Heritage decided yesterday.
The environmental agency decided to continue its programme of culling
hedgehogs on the Uists and Benbecula.
Hedgehogs are not native to the islands: they were introduced by a gardener
who wanted to control slugs and their population has since exploded.
SNH says the hedgehogs have been eating the eggs of rare wading birds and
they have no choice but to cull the animals in order to protect the birds.
The agency began a cull on North Uist in the summer, which it yesterday
decided to expand to the neighbouring island of Benbecula, followed by South
Uist in 2005.
SNH chairman John Markland said the decision to continue the cull had been
taken reluctantly.
"These hedgehogs should not be there," he said. "They have been moved here
by man but they are causing a devastating impact on the wading birds there.
We have decided that we must continue with the cull of hedgehogs."
When SNH began their cull last year, animal rights groups set up a highly
publicised rival programme of taking hedgehogs off the islands and on to the
mainland. But, despite the publicity the programme received, they rescued
barely 100 hedgehogs from a population many thousands strong.
SNH scientists believe that transferring hedgehogs onto the mainland will
result in large-scale deaths among the transferred hedgehogs and will also
threaten the mainland population of the animals.
But SNH recommended that a pilot project of relocation be set up in
conjunction with an animal welfare group in order to assess the impact of
relocation.
© The Guardian, 17th Deecember 2003
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