IAR are pleased to be part of the ’Uist Hedgehog Rescue’ coalition. Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) claim that since the introduction by man in 1974 that hedgehogs in Uist have decimated the wading bird population by eating their eggs.
SNH decided to embark on program of killing the hedgehogs beginning in April 2003. They used traps, torches and dogs to hunt the hedgehogs and then killed them using lethal injections. The UHR argued by every means available to them that it would be more humane and far cheaper for the hedgehogs to be relocated to safe homes on the mainland. SNH refused point blank to discuss our plans and continued with the executions. UHR began a massive campaign to catch hedgehogs and relocate them before SNH could trap or hunt them down.
Volunteers from all over the UK were ferried up to a reception centre on Benbecular. Teams of volunteers were sent out at night to collect hedgehogs and bring them back to the holding centre where they received a health check by our vet nurses and a full inspection from our Vet before being transferred to Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue centre near Glasgow, for distribution to safe release sites.
SNH announced on May 19th that they would suspend their hedgehog hunt on Friday 23rd May to avoid catching pregnant females. UHR would like to think that the pressure we put on SNH was also a contributing factor.
At the time of going to press SNH had caught and killed 50 hedgehogs at a cost of £90,000 (£1800 per hedgehog). The UHR have caught and relocated 150 hedgehogs at a fraction of the SNH cost. Alan Knight commented that UHR are totally opposed to the killing of these hedgehogs when a sensible humane alternative exists. We have proved that relocation is a viable cheaper alternative to killing and UHR will be ready and waiting to rescue hedgehogs if the killing resumes IAR provided volunteers to help with the rescue. Nick Duthie managed to video his rescue attempts and this was shown as a video diary on the BBC programme Country File. Andy Hollingdale, who is one of our main sponsors of the Agra bear sanctuary has been instrumental in co-ordinating all of the volunteers during the last month.
The Uist Hedgehog Rescue coalition is made up of the following organisations: