They are among the nation’s favourite animals. But hedgehogs, it seems, are not welcome everywhere.
For conservationists are launching a multimillion-pound plan to eradicate every single one of the creatures from a group of Scottish islands.
Teams of hunters and a huge network of traps are soon set to be deployed in an ambitious bid to capture thousands of hedgehogs on Uist.
The animals are not native to the Hebrides and are considered a threat to the islands’ internationally important birdlife – because they feast on eggs.
Under the plan, up to 100 hedgehogs a week could soon find themselves being trapped while out foraging for food.
Once the creatures have been checked over in a special ‘rehabilitation facility’ on the isles, they will be shipped off to new homes on the Scottish mainland.
Heghog cute
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And even though thousands of animals were previously culled or captured, the hedgehogs, who are known as prolific breeders, have since had nine years to multiply and repopulate – leaving some observers wondering whether it was all a waste of time, effort and money.
And rather than eating slugs, the animals were found to be supplementing their normal diet of worms, beetles and other insects by feasting on the eggs of the globally important flocks of wading and ground-nesting birds.
With the Government legally obliged to protect the birds’ habitat, a first – unsuccessful – attempt was made in 1998 to drive away the egg-thieves on the South Uist coast by creating hedgehog ‘exclusion zones’.
However, a plan to hire snipers to shoot the unwanted hedgehogs sparked a massive public outcry, including fury from celebrities such as Joanna Lumley, Virginia McKenna and Queen guitarist Brian May.
Animal lovers were still horrified by the cull and volunteers launched a plan of their own: offering islanders a cash reward of £5 for every hedgehog they captured, handed in and spared the death sentence.
Details of the Uist Native Wildlife Project are set to be revealed in the coming months, but insiders have told The Scottish Mail on Sunday the ambition is to capture ‘up to 100 hedgehogs a week’.
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