News

20 September 2005

’Conservation’ quango withdraws plans to shoot Uist hedgehogs

Uist Hedgehog Rescue (UHR) has issued the following statement in response to today’s announcement by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), that the Scottish Executive’s ’conservation’ organisation is withdrawing its plan to shoot hedgehogs on the Uists. SNH had planned to start using dogs to locate the hedgehogs, and shotguns to kill them, next Monday.

"UHR is obviously pleased to learn that SNH is no longer planning to blast away healthy hedgehogs with shotguns. The ’conservation’ quango must have underestimated the public revulsion at its unethical plan to spend taxpayers’ money shooting hedgehogs on the Uists.

Of course, this unethical scenario would never have arisen had SNH and the other members of the Uist Wader Project, RSPB Scotland and the Scottish Executive, worked with UHR to catch and relocate the hedgehogs live to the mainland. This is the simple, ethical and humane solution to the problem. UHR has now rescued and relocated to the mainland over 600 hedgehogs since 2003. These healthy animals simply do not need to be killed. It should also be remembered that hedgehog populations on the mainland are actually in decline.

SNH has so far killed about 500 hedgehogs. This extermination is costing the public hundreds of thousands of pounds. Surely SNH exists to protect Scotland’s natural heritage, not to slaughter it. Killing these hedgehogs, by any means, is flying in the face of expert advice, decades of practical experience and public opinion. Opposition is widespread and will continue until this immoral treatment of our wildlife is halted."

Notes to Editors
For further information please contact Ross Minett on 0131 225 6039 (07946 517 585).

UHR consists of Advocates for Animals, the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue Trust and International Animal Rescue.

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