Celebrities join battle to save hedgehogs

Celebrities with homes in Scotland are being asked to help save 5,000 hedgehogs condemned to death as part of plans to protect important seabird colonies.

The lyricist Sir Tim Rice, a member of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, has agreed to give sanctuary to about 200 hedgehogs on his 33,000-acre Dundonnell estate in Wester Ross. The Duchess of Hamilton has offered a home to 160 of the animals and Ian Anderson, the Jethro Tull singer, has also agreed to help.

The society is appealing to other famous animal lovers, including Sir Paul McCartney, to save the lives of the animals which would be lost in the biggest cull of hedgehogs planned in Britain. The society has raised £50,000 for its campaign.

Scottish Natural Heritage has ordered the cull by lethal injection on the Western Isles in April when the animals emerge from hibernation.

The numbers of lapwing, dunlin, corncrake, skylark, redshank and snipe have fallen dramatically since the hedgehogs were introduced 30 years ago. The egg-stealing animals have no natural predators on the islands.

Under European law Scottish Natural Heritage has an obligation to protect the birds and after months of deliberation it decided that a cull would be the most effective and economic way of solving the problem. However, animals rights groups have launched an attempt to evacuate as many of the animals as possible.

Animal welfare campaigners say they have been swamped by calls from the public offering homes, money and even help in rounding-up and transporting the animals to mainland Britain.