THE future of an ancient Scottish bird hunt hangs in the balance as the special licences needed to kill the animals are up for review.
Campaigners seeking to end the guga hunt, which has taken place for hundreds of years in the Outer Hebrides, have said it is among the “cruellest and most ecologically reckless wildlife practices left in Scotland”.
Special licences are needed to allow the killing of baby gannets – which are protected as wild birds – at Sula Sgeir and these are currently under review by the regulator NatureScot.
As part of its general licencing review, the agency will soon launch a consultation on whether the practice should be allowed to continue.
The baby gannets are caught with a pole and a noose before their bodies are plucked and preserved in salt, producing a food which is considered a local delicacy.
Devon Docherty, Scottish campaigns manager at Protect the Wild, said: “The Guga hunt is one of the cruellest and most ecologically reckless wildlife practices left in Scotland – and NatureScot is the only thing standing between these birds and another year of senseless slaughter.
“Every year, defenceless Gannet chicks are beaten to death on a supposedly protected island – all for an outdated delicacy that nobody needs.”
Protect the Wild sparked backlash after running a candidate in the recent Holyrood election to raise awareness of their campaign.
Robert Pownall, the pressure group’s founder, was accused of “cultural imperialism” as the London-based campaigner ran in Edinburgh Central to highlight his cause and admitted he had never been to the island.
Angus MacNeil, the former MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, previously told the Sunday National that the guga hunt spared the birds a far worse natural death of starvation at Sula Sgeir.
