Animal rights activists save doomed hedgehogs

In the most publicised rescue from the Western Isles since Flora McDonald took Bonnie Prince Charlie over the sea to Skye, Operation Hebridean Hedgehog began yesterday. More than 30 of the spiky little fellows were shipped to the mainland after animal welfare activists snatched them from under the noses of Scottish National Heritage.

Thousands of hedgehogs – which are not native to the Hebrides – had been sentenced to death by the organisation, for eating the eggs and chicks of birds including the skylark, lapwing, redshank and dunlin.

Scottish National Heritage says the solution is a mass cull by lethal injection, but this has been opposed by animal activists, some of whom have travelled to the islands to rescue as many as they can.

Yesterday, the first batch of saved hedgehogs was shipped to Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue Centre at Beith, Ayrshire, from which they will be released into the wild, said Gay Christie, who runs the centre with her husband, Andy.

She said thousands of people had offered homes for the animals: "But we are not saying 'yes' to everyone. We want to make sure the release sites have no slug pellets, dogs, badger sets or ponds, which the hedgehogs could fall into."