Background
For centuries, a small group of men from Ness on the Isle of Lewis have travelled 40 miles across the North Atlantic to Sula Sgeir, a remote and uninhabited rocky island, to carry out the annual guga hunt.
Each August, hunters make the journey and spend up to two weeks on the island, killing thousands of young gannets. The chicks are lifted from their nests using a noose or grasper attached to a pole, before being struck on the head, decapitated, gutted and salted for the return journey to Lewis.
Although Scotland's Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 gives wild birds full legal protection, the guga hunt continues under a licensing exemption.
Watch
The significant and unavoidable animal welfare concerns raised by this hunt means it cannot be considered humane.
What you can do:
This year NatureScot, the Scottish Government’s nature agency, denied the license for conservation and animal welfare reasons. But what about next year and the year after that? It needs to stop for good.
YOUR VOICE can ensure that it does:
CTA BUTTON – Tell the government to act.
- YOU CAN tell Minister Jim Fairlie, in your own words, to close the loophole in the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 that allows guga to be hunted.
- YOU CAN ask him to consider the animal welfare evidence provided by both the League Against Cruel Sports and the Scottish Government’s own Scottish Animal Welfare Commission (who have shown there’s no humane way to kill gannets).
- YOU CAN talk about the film you’ve seen above and your personal thoughts on why these wonderful birds need the same protections as others
On behalf of everyone at League Against Cruel Sports Scotland, thank you.
More information
CTA BUTTON – Learn more and read the full report.