Report from Chris Smith
Islanders paid to save hedgehogs
FromBBC Scotland News, 26 th March 2003
Islanders are being offered £5 for every hedgehog they can save from a cull.
The rescue operation on the Scottish islands has been launched by a coalition of animal welfare groups.
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is seeking to cull the first of 5,000 hedgehogs next week in an effort to help preserve rare wading birds on the Uists in the Western Isles.
It said it would go ahead with the cull by lethal injection because transportation is cruel.
However, the Uist Hedgehog Rescue coalition is offering islanders £5 for every live hedgehog delivered to its collection point for transportation to the mainland.
Resettlement on the mainland
Hedgehog specialists are set to brief islanders on North and South Uist and Benbecula on how to catch and care for the animals.
Those behind the coalition include Advocates for Animals, the Mammal Society, the Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.
After paying for the hedgehog collection, the animals will be flow off for resettlement on the mainland.
SNH said its research shows that transported animals often end up starving to death in unfamiliar surroundings.
It is determined to press ahead with the cull of the first 200 hedgehogs.
Preying on eggs
SNH said the move was regrettable but necessary to preserve the eggs of rare birds.
A handful of hedgehogs were first introduced to the Uists in 1974 to help control slugs and snails in islanders' gardens.
Their numbers mushroomed but so did the threat to important populations of waders including dunlin, lapwing, redshank and snipe.
Recent surveys have shown that the numbers of some species of wading birds dropped by nearly 60% in the last five years.
SNH said the hedgehogs were jeopardising the populations of some birds by preying on their eggs.
© BBC Scotland News, 26 th March 2003
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