Hedgehogs will be culled next week

A planned cull of 5,000 hedgehogs in an effort to help preserve rare wading birds on the Uists in the Western Isles is due to begin in four days.

A group of 12 animal activists from across the UK, which came to the islands last week to save the hedgehogs from extermination, has so far found just five of the creatures.

Lisa Frost, one of two nurses on the islands from St Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, denied that the operation had so far been a failure.

Fantastic support

"They are not going to be in a rush to wake up because it's still very cold and nasty here," she said.

"What we have been doing is setting up feeding stations in areas which are popular with hedgehogs.

"They are creatures of habit, so if we sit at a food site they will appear eventually and we can pick them up and put them into a basket."

Ms Frost said that islanders on the Uists were opposed to the cull and were giving volunteers "fantastic" support.

We couldn't just sit back and watch them being killed when we know there is an alternative Lisa Frost St Tiggywinkles

She added that staff from St Tiggywinkles were outraged by the scheme and said: "We deal with over 3,000 hedgehogs a year and we know hedgehogs and we know they can be transported.

"We couldn't just sit back and watch them being killed when we know there is an alternative."

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is to start catching and killing hedgehogs on Monday as part of an effort to protect wader birds on the islands.

It said it would go ahead with the cull by lethal injection because transportation is cruel.

Hedgehogs snacking on snipe, lapwing and redshank eggs have sent bird numbers on the island into freefall in recent years.

About 200 of the mammals are due to be put down with lethal injections this season and the programme will continue in later years.