Duchess says hedgehog cull is senseless as second phase begins

telegraph UK ^ | (Filed: 03/04/2004) | By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent

[dennisw]

Duchess says hedgehog cull is senseless as second phase begins
By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent
(Filed: 03/04/2004)

The Duchess of Hamilton, the wife of Scotland's premier peer, yesterday condemned as "senseless" the plan to carry out a cull of hedgehogs in order to save birds.

She accused the environment agency behind the scientific cull of failing to listen to expert advice and said experience had shown that the animals could be successfully relocated.

	The duchess with Hamish the Hedgehog

Scottish Natural Heritage began a cull of hedgehogs in the Outer Hebrides last year because of the drastic effect they were having on protected wading birds, such as the dunlin, redshank and oystercatcher.

The populations of some species have fallen by 60 per cent because of the hedgehogs' opportunistic diet of eggs and chicks.

The Government agency caught and killed 60 on North Uist last year, and it will begin the second phase of its programme next week on Benbecula, which has a much higher population.

However, the operation has been widely condemned, and the duchess joined a protest yesterday outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.

She supports the wildlife charities behind the Uist Hedgehog Rescue project, which is offering islanders a bounty of £20 a head for every animal handed over. Last year they paid £5 a head and removed 140 animals from Benbecula and South Uist.

The duchess, who has offered to take dozens of hedgehogs on her husband's estate outside Edinburgh, said: "It is sad that Scottish Natural Heritage is planning to kill yet more healthy hedgehogs on the Uists.

"Scottish Natural Heritage has consistently failed to listen to scientific and expert advice and experience which proves that these animals could and should be simply moved to the mainland.

"I urge SNH, the Scottish Executive and RSPB Scotland to abandon this senseless killing policy and relocate the hedgehogs. It is a kinder and far less expensive option."

A survey in 1983 showed that the islands held at least 17,000 pairs of breeding waders, including a quarter of the total United Kingdom breeding population of both dunlin and ringed plover and about 10 per cent of the United Kingdom's population of redshank.

Subsequent surveys carried out in 1995 and in 2000 found that wader numbers on South Uist and Benbecula had declined dramatically.

Supporters of the cull, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, believe relocation is not humane because it is likely to lead to unacceptable levels of death in Uist and among mainland hedgehogs.

[Tax-chick]

hedgehogs

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[BipolarBob]

Hedgehogs.I'm wondering if they taste like chicken.

[pt17]

The Duchess of Hamilton never met Spiny Norman. Oh, Dinsdale, Dinsdale.

[Anoreth]

ummm..........odd.

[battousai]

Hedgehogs.I'm wondering if they taste like chicken.

I recall reading somewhere that gypsies wrap them in clay and roast them over a fire, if anything they probably taste like rabbit, since they are rodents too.

It just goes to show these environuts should just leave nature alone to sort itself out, they try to fix one thing and break another, how bout just leaving it alone?

If they had been around these people would have been trying to save the dinosaurs even though they were no longer suited to life on earth.

[Cronos]

mmmm.... roast hedgehog......

[tiamat]

Actually, the Romans used to eat them. they were skinned, boned, seasoned, stuffed back into their spiny coats and baked.

Sort of like green peppers!

I LIKE hedgehogs. I used to own one, but she died.

BTW! I LOVE your tag-line!

;-)

[tiamat]

Hedgehogs are NOT rodents.

they are insectavores, not vegitarians and their teeth are nothing like a rodent's teeth. More like a dog's.

I know, because I used to own a hedgehog and she would occasionally BITE!

[Americanchild]

Actually neither hedgehogs or rabbits are rodents.

Rabbits taste like dry chicken. Never ate a hedgehog. :)

[battousai]

Well ya learn something new everyday, what are they classified as, if you know? I always thought rabits were rodents, oh well live and learn :)

[Americanchild]

Rabbits are Lagamorphs. They were at one time classified as rodents, but were given a new category many years ago.

Hedgehogs are Insectivores. :)