The owners of the Uist Animal Visitors Centre are proposing that facilities currently lying empty could be used to house the animals, who have been granted a stay of execution.

Susan Rothwell said it could also operate as a "distribution centre" to send the hedgehogs to the mainland.

We could have a sanctuary for these hedgehogs and also have a relocation programme for areas on the mainland where they have basically been wiped out

Susan Rothwell

Scottish Natural Heritage, which is consulting interested bodies on the future of the animals, said it would consider the "kind offer".

The hedgehog population on North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist has grown from seven to 5,000 since the animals were introduced in 1974.

SNH said the animals are harming the islands' internationally important bird population by eating their eggs.

That problem prompted a recommendation that the hedgehogs should be wiped out - but the organisation's board ordered a stay of execution earlier this week.

Members agreed that talks should be held with other animal welfare groups and hedgehog societies before deciding whether or not to back the proposal.

Visitor attraction

The issue will be considered at another meeting next month, but SNH has predicted that the consultation process could take up to 18 months.

Ms Rothwell said that the Uist Animal Visitors Centre had the facilities available to prevent a cull being necessary.

"We could probably house all 5,000 if they could catch them all, but I doubt it very much," she told BBC News Online Scotland.

The centre used to provide a tourist attraction on North Uist before the UK's foot-and-mouth outbreak, which led to a decline in visitor numbers.

The Uist Animal Visitor Centre is one of the groups who we will be talking to now that they have made this kind offer

Heather Kinnin SNH spokeswoman

The facility, which has been put up for sale, closed in November.

However, Ms Rothwell said the centre - which had dealt with injured hedgehogs in the past - held a zoo licence and contained a range of facilities including an isolation unit.

"We have never been approached by SNH about relocating these hedgehogs," she said.

"They know we are here, they know we are not working, they know we have got the capabilities and the licence and the facilities."

She said the centre could become an islands equivalent of the St Tiggywinkles hospital, a specialist facility in Buckinghamshire dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating wildlife.

Hedgehogs are not native to South Uist

"We could have a sanctuary for these hedgehogs and also have a relocation programme for areas on the mainland where they have basically been wiped out," she said.

She also predicted that the centre could become a draw for tourists and for scientists keen to study the animals.

"It is ridiculous to even look at any other ideas until this one has been tested," she added.

SNH spokeswoman Heather Kinnin said there were legal, logistical and animal welfare problems involved with moving the animals to the mainland.

Work already done

She said the organisation was in the process of getting views from a range of people about the way forward.

"We will be taking them back and seeing how they fit in with the work we have already done," she said.

"But we need to make sure that all the groups we can possibly contact understand the work that has been done already and the problems that there are with the various ideas."

And she added: "The Uist Animal Visitor Centre is one of the groups who we will be talking to now that they have made this kind offer."