Hedgehog bounty rises to £20 a head

HEDGEHOG hunters are to be offered an increased bounty of £20 per head to catch the spiky animals in advance of a government-backed cull on the Western Isles.

Scottish Natural Heritage, the government’s countryside agency, will next month send official teams to North Uist and Benbecula as part of a three-year programme to eradicate thousands of hedgehogs threatening wild bird populations.

But animal welfare campaigners determined to save the hedgehogs before they are slaughtered have increased the financial incentive to local residents prepared to take part in a rescue operation.

Last year, the welfare groups offered 5 for each hedgehog and half of the 156 animals rescued for transportation and relocation on the mainland were caught by locals. This year, with SNH planning to cover a much bigger area and cull more hedgehogs, the bounty has been increased to 20.

Ross Minnett, the head of Advocates for Animals, said: "We thought we did well last year but we are increasing the money available because we want to get more local people involved.

"It is cheaper for the taxpayer than killing them. SNH spent more than 100,000 last year killing just 66 animals. It is now going to spend hundreds of thousands more, but unless they eradicate every hedgehog then they will be facing the same problem all over again in a few years."

Hedgehogs were artificially introduced to the islands to eat garden slugs but their numbers have now proliferated out of control. SNH ordered the cull because the animals eat the eggs of the internationally-important colonies of seabirds which live on the coast of the Western Isles.

It hopes that a three-year eradication programme will drastically reduce numbers and allow the seabird colonies to flourish.

Islanders said the 20-per-head price of a hedgehog would be a powerful incentive.

North Uist community councillor Norman Johnson said: "Some people were talking about breeding hedgehogs just to get the money, but I am sure it was just tongue-in-cheek."