Saving hedgehogs from cull proves a grand idea

AN ISLANDER from North Uist has earned more than £1,000 in less than a month by saving hedgehogs from a cull in the Outer Hebrides.

The man, who has asked for his identity not to be disclosed, has rescued more than 50 hedgehogs at a rate of 20 each.

Another islander has rescued more than 30, collecting more than 600.

Scottish Natural Heritage organised an eight-week cull to protect important populations of ground-nesting birds such as the lapwing from hedgehogs, which eat their eggs.

Hedgehogs are not native to the islands and were introduced there in the 1970s. Bird populations have halved since the mid-1980s.

However, the campaign body Uist Hedgehog Rescue offered a bounty of 20 apiece to anyone rescuing hedgehogs and handing them to the group for resettlement elsewhere.