Report from Chris Smith
Hedgehog Relocation Plans Shelved
By Andrew Black, Scottish Press Association in the Scotsman, 3 rd February 2004
A wildlife charity which was planning to move hedgehogs from the
Western Isles to the mainland as an alternative to a cull has shelved
the project over a funding row, it emerged today.
The People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) had been gearing up
for the trial relocation project, but it has criticised Scottish
Natural Heritage (SNH), which runs the cull, because it decided not to
provide funding.
SNH, which will proceed with the controversial culling programme on
North Uist, South Uist and Benbecula over the next three years, said
its board made the decision that funding the PTES study was a wrongful
use of taxpayers' money.
The environmental quango has now decided to abandon the plans to give
60 hedgehogs to PTES for relocation, unless an alternative relocation
project presents itself.
PTES chief executive Valerie Keeble claimed the cost of the relocation
project had quadrupled to £160,000, a sum which she said would be
impossible for the charity to raise in a short period of time.
Dr Keeble claimed SNH should have at least contributed towards costs
because it wanted to expand the plans.
In an open letter to SNH she wrote: "SNH's intransigence in refusing
to provide some financial backing is particularly disappointing as, in
spite of the difficulties, we had secured at least half the monies
required, a considerable achievement in such a short period.
"We believe it is extremely short-sighted of SNH not to contribute."
Dr Keeble said that, over the last few months, PTES and its scientific
advisers spent a considerable amount of key charitable resources on
what turned out to be a "failed attempt to devise a proposal
acceptable to both parties that could be implemented in practice".
"It is our view that SNH has wasted valuable charity time and
finances, delayed decision making to the extent that it imperilled the
possible implementation of plans and failed to keep the open mind it
promised with regard to finding an alternative solution to this most
difficult of problems," she added.
According to PTES research, at least 1,000 hedgehogs would have to be
killed every year for at least 15 years for the islands to be cleared
of the animals.
The cull, carried out to protect the Uist's wader bird population,
caught 66 of the estimated 90 hedgehogs on the south end of North Uist
and is to resume in April.
An SNH spokesman said the organisation believed there to be
significant animal welfare problems associated with moving hedgehogs
to the mainland both for the Uist and mainland hedgehogs.
But he added: "We have however always remained open to being proved
wrong on this. The offer of 60 animals for a trial translocation was
made in this spirit.
"We are disappointed there is to be no trial, but the SNH board was
adamant that it would not fund the exercise. We will now be continuing
with our plans to cull hedgehogs on North Uist and Benbecula this
coming spring in order to counter the threat these pose to the
native birdlife."
© The Scotsman, 3 rd February 2004
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