No ban on Western Isles guga hunt

It has been a tradition of the Western Isles for generations but this year’s annual guga hunt has come under fire as ‘being barbaric’ from animal welfare charity the SPCA.

“Ban the hunt.”

The SPCA had written to the government asking for a ban on the hunt which sees around 2,000 baby gannets harvested each year from the island of Sula Sgeir off the, north coast of Lewis.

However the Scottish government has backed the practice saying it was satisfied with the methods used to kill the birds and that there was no conservation risk to the gannet population, so there would be no move to ban the hunt.”

Hebrides Today brings you the latest news from the Western Isles