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27 January 2003Hedgehogs on Uist - SNH in More TroublePetition to the Scottish ParliamentEditorial©Teviot Scientific Consultancy The hedgehog debacle on the island of Uist, Hebrides, Scotland (1), for which SNH has only itself to blame (2), has escalated. SNH plan to exterminate 5000 hedgehogs on the island by lethal injection, at enormous expense to the taxpayer. SNH alleges that the hedgehogs are largely responsible for eating the eggs of waders, the birds SNH wants to conserve. Many believe that SNH was warned by local gamekeepers and landlords many years ago of this threat, but their advice was ignored (1). There is resentment on the Island that the excessive multiplication of hedgehog numbers could have been readily controlled by local people with appropriate practical knowledge and in a timely manner. By not handling the problem expeditiously it has escalated to absurd proportions and at an absurd projected cost. Furthermore, SNH have brought upon themselves the public odium of having to mount a campaign to exterminate 5000 hedgehogs. It is all part of the SNH stance that they know best, while local people with practical knowledge are ignorant and incompetent - a level of arrogance demonstrated by SNH that is totally unacceptable. As reported on BBC News on 24th January 2003 (3) the British Hedgehog Preservation Society has lodged an appeal to the Scottish Parliament. The Parliament has agreed to hear it through their Petitions Committee. The Appeal is due to be heard next Tuesday, 28th January 2003 by a seven member committee - which is commendably prompt. For all the faults of the Scottish Parliament (and there are many) the Petitions Committee has been doing a good job A number of successful petitions have been made, such as the petition against SNH in relation to the unacceptable manner in which it tried to designate the Sound of Barra as a possible Special Area of Conservation (4). Arran landusers also made a successful petition entitled “Scientific Objection to the designation of the Arran Moors as a proposed Site of Special Scientific Interest and proposed Special Protection Area and Arran” (5). In the present instance the appellants have requested the Petitions Committee to give them a chance to collect and move the hedgehogs to new homes on the mainland before extermination begins. SNH, in the correspondence column of The Oban Times (6), have said that they are not against others removing the hedgehogs but further research is needed. This was not accepted by Pat Blunsden of the Small Paws Cattery, Seil, by Oban. She complained that many rescue groups had been present at a meeting with SNH but SNH had ignored their views (7). Small Paws Cattery reasonably asked who would next be for the chop if the decline in waders continues once the hedgehogs have gone, and protested that as far as SNH was concerned it was only the birds that mattered, which indeed appears to be the case. SNH again responded through its Board Member, Alice Lambert, saying in a further letter to The Oban Times (8) that the research on hedgehogs that had been referred to had been done in Oxford. This research had stated what was rather obvious to most people to the effect that there is a balance in nature between the numbers that could survive and food supplies available plus what predators were about. Perhaps SNH (and indeed other bodies such as RSPB) should give this axiom further thought when they plan to conserve one species in preference to all others. Although the hedgehog debacle may raise a wry smile here and there, it does focus on the deeply serious and more general problem that exists regarding the conduct of SNH. Is it really a competent body to look after what is referred to as Scotland’s Natural Heritage? Some think not. We await with interest to see what the Scottish Parliament Petitions Committee make of it all. Hopefully the seven of the wise and the good will decide in favour of the appellants, and will not fall for the pathetic plea from SNH that “more research is needed”. What codswallop! ©Teviot Scientific Consultancy
References1. The Oban Times (2003). Gamekeepers’ Association Official Joins Growing Row Over Hedgehogs. The Oban Times, 9 January 2003. (View on Land-Care). 2. Hope, Mark (2003). Hedgehogs Galore. The Oban Times, 16 January 2003. (View on Land-Care). 3. BBC on line. Appeal to Save Hedgehogs. 24 January 2003. (View on Land Care). 4. Mitchell, I. (2002). Scientific Objection to the Designation of the Sound of Barra as a Possible Special Area of Conservation. LandCareScotland, 2: 3-49. (Available on Land-Care). 5. Mitchell, I. (2003). Scientific Objection to the designation of the Arran Moors as a proposed Site of Special Scientific Interest and proposed Special Protection Area. LandCareScotland, 3: 1-118. 6. Lambert, Alice (2003). Reasons for hedgehog cull. The Oban Time: 9 January 2003. (View on Land-Care). 7. Blunsden, Pat (2003). Who’s next for the chop? The Oban Times: 16 January 2003. (View on Land-Care). 8. Lambert, Alice (2003) Hedgehog research. The Oban Times: 23 January 2003. (View on Land-Care). |