Plans to shoot hedgehogs located by dogs in North Uist this autumn are being put on hold while further efforts are made to find an alternative legal route for the use of dogs.

The islands of the Uists and Benbecula form part of one of the most important breeding stations in north west Europe for protected populations of ground nesting wading birds.

The Uist Wader Project, a partnership initiative involving Scottish Natural Heritage, RSPB Scotland and The Scottish Executive, aims to save some of those protected species from very serious decline, possibly even local extinction. This is a legal obligation the UK has under international wildlife legislation. One of the major causes of those declines is the large scale predation by hedgehogs, which were introduced to the islands in the 1970s and have multiplied in number. As they forage they come across nests and eat eggs, which has a devastating effect on the birds' breeding success.

For a number of years, SNH, along with RSPB Scotland and The Scottish Executive investigated methods of addressing the problem. From the outset the intention was to avoid any need to cull. Fences were tried and the possibility of translocating hedgehogs from the islands to the mainland was explored. Alternative methods such as imuno-contraception are still being investigated.

Unfortunately each of these has currently been ruled out as a viable option of dealing with the problem effectively and/or humanely. The Uist Wader Project therefore embarked on a programme of culling hedgehogs, starting by aiming to prevent the spread into areas of North Uist that are still free from hedgehogs, then moving south towards the areas where bird populations are in decline.

The work involves catching hedgehogs by night lamping and using traps. These hedgehogs are then put down in a controlled environment using lethal injection, a method of despatch confirmed as both legally acceptable and humane by the SSPCA.

When very few hedgehogs remain in a particular area, trapping and night lamping become less effective. In these circumstances, it is necessary to use tracker dogs to locate the last few remaining hedgehogs in that particular area. However, current legislation regarding the use of dogs for locating wild animals requires that any hedgehogs located must then be shot, rather than put down by lethal injection.

Although this use of specially trained tracker dogs and shooting is widely used and recognised as a legal and humane method for the despatch of animals, the partners in the Project, and others, are uncomfortable with the concept of shooting hedgehogs. At a recent meeting of the partners it was decided to proceed this autumn's fieldwork with the use of traps and lamping as normal, but postpone the use of dogs while further efforts are made to find an alternative to shooting as a means of despatch.

Comment from David Maclennan of Scottish Natural Heritage, who chairs the Uist Wader Project management group:

"The native biodiversity of the Western Isles has come under threat from non-native species that have been introduced to the islands by humans. Perhaps the biggest of all these threats is that posed by hedgehogs to the protected ground nesting wading birds in the Uists, who's numbers are now showing serious declines. Under European and UK wildlife legislation there is no legal option but to remove the hedgehogs to save the birds.

"Translocating hedgehogs to the mainland has also been ruled out, at least until new credible scientific information comes to light that counters previous findings that suggest this would be less humane than culling, to both translocated hedgehogs and mainland populations. Therefore the only viable option open to the Project meanwhile is a programme of humane lethal control.

"In areas where trapping and lamping efforts have removed the majority of the hedgehogs, the use of dogs is necessary to locate the last few remaining hedgehogs in particular sites. And under current legislation any hedgehogs located in this way must be shot. Although this method is widely used in relation to the control of other species around the country, we have every sympathy with, and indeed share, the discomfort that many clearly have about this as a means of despatching hedgehogs. We have therefore decided to postpone this method while we continue our efforts to find another way that complies with the law."

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