Animal charities welcome NatureScot recommendations to reject guga hunt licence

Animal welfare charities have welcomed NatureScot’s recommendation that a licence not be granted for this year’s guga hunt on a remote Scottish island but called for the Scottish Government to make the ban permanent.The hunt has been an annual tradition in Ness, north Lewis, since the 15th century, with 10 men setting out for the rocky island of Sula Sgeir 40 miles away.Young gannets – guga – are taken from open cliffs using a pole and noose, before being gutted, salted and preserved in brine.A group of campaigners protested in March (PA)PA WirePapers released ahead of a NatureScot board meeting next week have revealed the organisation has recommended the hunt does not go ahead based on conservation grounds to allow the population to recover following bird flu.The paper published by NatureScot said the organisation “recognises the strength of feeling expressed by a wide range of stakeholders on animal welfare aspects. In assessing the 2026 application, we have considered whether the proposed activity is likely to constitute any offences under relevant legislation”.OneKind chief executive Jason Rose said: “Since the licensing of the hunt resumed last summer, OneKind has calmly and clearly made the case for this grisly piece of history to be retired, as no animal should ever have to suffer in the name of human tradition.“The recommendation to the NatureScot board is clear and shows what is possible when constructive engagement is sought and considered evidence is presented – a way of making progress for animals that has seen OneKind lead the way over many years.“Our focus has always been each young gannet, their parents and the whole community of birds on Sula Sgeir, who are being traumatised in the name of tradition.“The welfare of each individual gannet matters and it is encouraging that NatureScot considered animal welfare advice as part of this decision.“There are ways we can remember this historic practice, but with kindness rather than causing stress, suffering and pain to hundreds, even thousands, of individuals, families and a whole community of fellow living beings.”OneKind is calling for the Scottish Government to make the ban on the guga hunt permanent.Mr Rose continued: “OneKind held early discussions last year with NatureScot and we shared our report with community leaders in the Western Isles.Read More“We hope today’s paper is acted on by the board, but even so it is only the first step.“NatureScot has not ruled out allowing the guga hunt in future years. We still need the Scottish Government to act, to close the legal loophole that allows this hunt in the first place.”Uninhabited by humans, Sula Sgeir is home to thousands of pairs of breeding gannets.Wildlife campaigner Robert Pownall dressed as a gannet outside the Waverley Court polling station in Edinburgh (Jane Barlow/PA)PA WireTraditionally, the birds formed an essential part of the winter diet for the people of Ness, but guga is now regarded as a delicacy by some, although it is said to be an “acquired taste”.Last year NatureScot granted a licence allowing up to 500 birds to be killed, with a total of 485 culled at the 2025 hunt.Robbie Marsland, director of the League Against Cruel Sports Scotland and Northern Ireland, welcomed the recommendations but also called for a permanent ban to the hunt.He said: “This is great news for the gannets of Sula Sgeir and we welcome NatureScot’s recommendation not to license the hunt this year. But it’s a stay of execution, not a reprieve.“The decision has been made on conservation grounds, which means that once the population recovers, there’s every likelihood that the killing starts again.“We’re calling on the Scottish Government to close the loophole that lets up to 2,000 young birds on this tiny island be killed.“This hunt belongs to another century. Understanding of animal welfare has changed and no animal should die like this for food in Scotland in the 21st century.”In March, activists protested outside the Scottish Parliament as a petition to end the guga hunt passed 100,000 signatures.The protesters had tape over their mouths and held signs reading “Don’t silence us” as they raised concerns the petition would be delayed by the Holyrood election in May.Gannets nest on cliffs above the sea (PA)PA ArchiveThe Public Petitions Committee is considering the petition.Devon Docherty, Scottish Campaigns Manager at Protect the Wild, said: “This news comes the very same day our petition to NatureScot to stop the Guga hunt passed 250,000 signatures. The science now clearly matches the public opinion that there’s no place for this hunt in 2026.“We are so relieved that 2,000 young gannets will now get to spread their wings and fly instead of being beaten to death for an archaic tradition.“The Scottish Government must now act to remove the outdated legal exemption that allows this hunt to continue being licensed in the first place so that Sula Sgeir’s gannets finally receive the full protections they deserve.”The killing of wild birds in Scotland is illegal.However, the guga hunt falls into legal exemption in Section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981), specifically allowing gannets to be taken from the island of Sula Sgeir for the purpose of human consumption, as per historical tradition.A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “While gannets are protected birds, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes specific provision for the granting of a licence for long standing, traditional hunting on the Island of Sula Sgeir to provide food for human consumption.“The Scottish Government has no current plans to ban this activity as the current licensing system allows NatureScot the flexibility to consider licence applications against species conservation and animal welfare criteria.”