Animal welfare charities have welcomed NatureScot's recommendation that a licence not be granted for this year's guga hunt on the remote island of Sula Sgeir, but are calling on the Scottish Government to make the ban permanent.
Tradition and Conservation Concerns
The hunt has been an annual tradition in Ness, north Lewis, since the 15th century, with 10 men setting out for Sula Sgeir, 40 miles away. Young gannets – known as guga – are taken from open cliffs using a pole and noose, before being gutted, salted and preserved in brine.
Papers released ahead of a NatureScot board meeting next week reveal that the organisation has recommended the hunt does not go ahead on conservation grounds, to allow the gannet population to recover following bird flu. The paper noted that NatureScot “recognises the strength of feeling expressed by a wide range of stakeholders on animal welfare aspects.”
Charities React
Jason Rose, chief executive of OneKind, 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.” He added that the recommendation “shows what is possible when constructive engagement is sought and considered evidence is presented.” Rose called for the Scottish Government to close the “legal loophole” that allows the hunt.
Robbie Marsland, director of the League Against Cruel Sports Scotland and Northern Ireland, welcomed the recommendation but said it was “a stay of execution, not a reprieve.” He said: “The decision has been made on conservation grounds, which means that once the population recovers, there’s every likelihood that the killing starts again.”
Public Opposition
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.” The 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.”
Docherty also urged the Scottish Government to “remove the outdated legal exemption that allows this hunt to continue being licensed in the first place.”
Legal Context
Last year, NatureScot granted a licence allowing up to 500 birds to be killed, with 485 culled in the 2025 hunt. The killing of wild birds in Scotland is generally illegal, but the guga hunt falls under a legal exemption in Section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981), specifically allowing gannets to be taken from Sula Sgeir for human consumption, as per historical tradition.
