The hedgehogs will be resettled throughout Britain

Scottish Natural Heritage are blaming the animals for eating the eggs of endangered birds on three remote islands.

Earlier this month, it began a cull to wipe out all 5,000 hedgehogs on the linked islands of North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist.

But the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) in Ludlow, Shropshire, is determined to save as many of them as possible.

'Enclosed gardens'

Working together with Uist Hedgehog Rescue, its members caught their 90th hedgehog over the weekend near a beach on Benbecula.

The hedgehogs are being shipped to an animal hospital on the Scottish mainland before being resettled by volunteers all over Britain.

Paul Truelove, from the BHPS, said: "A better alternative would be to take the animals and release them into gardens where they can be enclosed.

"They won't be interactive with the normal hedgehog population in the British Isles but they will still be able to lead a normal life."

The rescue operation began two weeks ago and could last up to four years.

But Scottish Natural Heritage has accused the volunteers of double standards.

It says culling is the most humane option as hedgehogs on the mainland will perish from hunger, predators or being hit by cars.

Hedgehogs were first introduced to the Outer Hebrides 30 years ago to help control slugs and snails but the population later boomed.