RSPB Conspiracies continue - Hedgehog slaughter a "put up"..

DANGER CONservation hooligans at WORK!

RSPB involved with SNH in dirty tricks campaigns yet again.




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14 April 2003
New doubts raised on cull of hedgehogs
John Ross
Reproduced with Permission from
The Scotsman, 12th April 2003
(Filed 14 April 2003)
www.land-care.org.uk
© The Scotsman

www.scotsman.com

As the Hedgehog cull in the Western Isles continued yesterday, the
reason behind the action and its timing have been called into
question.

Ian Mitchell, who has written on the politics of conservation, claims
Scottish Natural Heritage has been aware of the hedgehog problem for
many years but “sprung into action” only because of its close
relationship with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds when
the multiplying, egg-eating hedgehogs were nearing a RSPB reserve.

In a letter to the Scotsman (1), Mr Mitchell said he became aware of
the problem in 1996 after interviewing a bird researcher. “If SNH knew
about the problem then, why did it not act?” he asks. He suggests the
reason was that, at the time, the problem only affected crofters - but
the hedgehogs have since advanced to North Uist and are close to a
RSPB bird reserve at Balranald.

Yesterday, Mr Mitchell said: “As a long-time watcher of both
organisations, I know that if RSPB says jump then SNH jumps. Why so
suddenly? I don’t know, but there is an unhealthy close relationship
between the two (organisations). It’s quite incestuous.

“It’s highly mysterious that they do it (the cull) now as soon as the
problem gets near Balranald. SNH does not take the slightest interest
in the problems of the natives of the islands, but they take
tremendous interest in the problems of something like the RSPB.

“I do not think it’s right that the regulatory body should be so
closely involved with what could be called one of its client
organisations.”

There are estimated to be 5,000 hedgehogs in the Western Isles, 200 of
them in North Uist.

The cull was agreed last year because the population of birds such as
dunlin, redshank and lapwing dropped significantly.

Both SNH and the RSPB dismissed Mr Mitchell’s claims.

A spokeswoman for SNH said: “The fact we are beginning the cull now
has nothing to do with the RSPB reserve on Balranald. The hedgehog
problem on the Uists has a long history of research behind it, which
has only now culminated in the last resort - a cull”.

She said that hedgehogs were first recorded on the islands in 1982,
but it was not known what damage they were causing until 1995, when an
RSPB survey of waders found numbers had dropped dramatically since a
previous count in 1983.

“However, there was no evidence at that point to prove it was
hedgehogs which were doing the damage, so both SNH and RSPB began to
research the problem from 1995 onwards”.

She said work continued to find scientific proof of what was eating
the birds’ eggs, and only by 2000 was there enough evidence to show
categorically that hedgehogs were to blame. The three-year Uist Wader
Project was set up to look at ways of tackling the problem.

The spokeswoman added: “The Uist Wader Project aimed to find a
non-lethal solution to the problem, through researching the
effectiveness of methods such as fencing, sterilisation and
translocation. In the end the project concluded that the only
effective way to tackle the problem was through a cull.”

She went on: “SNH does work closely with RSPB, as it does with any
other conservation body in Scotland but this is important to help us
work effectively together to protect the natural heritage. We are well
aware of Mr Mitchell’s conspiracy theory about SNH and other
conservation bodies, and have received over 200 letters from him on
this topic.”

Stuart Housden, director RSPB Scotland, said the bird researcher
mentioned by Mr Mitchell was an RSPB worker, Digger Jackson. “In Mr
Mitchell’s letter he is implying it is our self-serving science but he
does not acknowledge he knows about this because he met our
scientist.”

He said research in the 1990’s showed great declines in wading bird
numbers and further investigations high-lighted the presence of
hedgehogs. Studies over some years showed a correlation between the
non-native hedgehogs and the decline in waders.

“You have to do thorough research to persuade people, including SNH
and the Scottish Executive, to do something.”

John Ross
©The Scotsman
Reproduced by Land-Care with permission of The Scotsman
www.land-care.org.uk


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So, you dont like reasoned,
well thought out, civil debate?

I understand.

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