News

1 March 2006

Uist Hedgehog Rescue calls on Scottish Natural Heritage to call off planned slaughter

New research supports Uist Hedgehog Rescue position that translocation is humane alternative to killing.

Uist Hedgehog Rescue (UHR) coalition today welcomes new scientific research which shows that hedgehogs can be translocated successfully after rehabilitation and that their release, onto mainland Britain, has no adverse effect on local hedgehog populations.

Over the last three years UHR has rescued 610 Uist hedgehogs, which have been health checked, monitored and carefully released into appropriate sites on the mainland. The Scottish Executive’s Conservation quango, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), has so far killed 535 hedgehogs and intends to start catching and killing again from 13th March to 27th May. Unless SNH’s planned slaughter is called off, UHR intends to return to the Uists to rescue more animals during April and May.

This latest research, conducted by scientists at Bristol University, supports the findings of a wealth of previous studies conducted by hedgehog experts from around the world. At a meeting of the European Hedgehog Research Group in 2004, the majority of those present, including many of the world’s leading experts in hedgehog ecology and behaviour, signed a statement calling on SNH to halt the cull of hedgehogs on the Uists. In view of the existing published scientific studies that indicate that hedgehog translocation can be undertaken successfully, they called on SNH to support the efforts of those wishing to translocate the hedgehogs in a careful and well-monitored manner.

A spokesperson for Uist Hedgehog Rescue says: "This latest research supports what we have been saying all along, namely that hedgehogs can be humanely translocated from the Uists to the mainland. SNH claims that it is open to new scientific evidence and we urge it to reconsider its position in light of this new research. We are calling on SNH to call off plans to kill any more healthy hedgehogs in 2006 and instead work with wildlife experts to relocate them on the mainland."

Notes to Editors
For interviews, further information, or photographs of rescued Uist hedgehogs, please contact Ross Minett on 0131 2256039 (07946 517585).

UHR is a coalition of animal welfare, rescue and wildlife organisations and experts consisting of Advocates for Animals, British Hedgehog Preservation Society, Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue Trust and International Animal Rescue.

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