An island politician accused scientists working with rare sheep on St Kilda of breaking the law, it has emerged.
The feral Soay sheep on St Kilda hit the headlines recently after over 1,700 people signed a petition calling for them to be protected under the Welfare Act.
Petitioners David Buckland and Graham Charlesworth, both retired vets from Uist, believe that letting a high percentage of the sheep starve every year is unacceptable.
This week, the issue reached Parliament’s Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee.
The committee revealed Na h-Eileanan an Iar MSP Alasdair Allan’s view that there could be “moral and legal” issues with the Soay Sheep research project.
The committee heard that while the Scottish Government have made an official response, National Trust and the Soay Sheep Project have yet to make submissions in relation to the petition.
The researchers, however, say they are “puzzled” that they could be seen as breaking the law, and that they have been careful to follow all Home Office guidelines.
Soay sheep ‘an exception’, says Scottish Government
Feral animals are still considered protected under the Welfare Act. However, the Scottish Government told the committee that they believe the Soay sheep are “an exception to this general guidance”.
Soay sheep, the Government says, can only be considered ‘protected animals’ “if and when [they] are gathered up for a particular procedure”.
At other times, the Animal Welfare Act would not cover them.
The Government says that the sheep have “become adapted to live on St Kilda over many generations, so are not dependant on humans in the same way that more recently escaped or released domesticated animals would be”.
Alasdair Allan, however, has spoken to the committee “highlight[ing] the petitioners’ concerns” that the unclear law means the Soay Sheep Project “may have committed numerous offences”.
There may, he says, be “both a moral and legal duty to manage the sheep population of St Kilda to avoid mass starvation events”.
In response to Mr Allan’s comments, Soay Sheep Project researcher Professor Dan Nussey says the catch and release programme is “all done with full UK Home Office License approval”.
Tagging the sheep yearly has ” has had no impact whatsoever on the welfare of the Soay sheep on St Kilda,” he says.
Soay research group ‘puzzled’ by legality claims
“We are puzzled as to why this is being raised in the petition and how it is relevant to the debate about whether or not Soay sheep should be treated as wild animals or managed as domestic sheep are.”
Over 1,700 people have signed the petition, which was launched by David Buckland and Graham Charlesworth, both retired vets from Uist.
Soay sheep live on St Kilda without intervention to stop large percentages of the population dying each year due to lack of food.
Researchers and the Government say this cycle is part of nature – but the petitioners say we have a duty to manage the sheep, despite the Soays’ differences from modern domestic breeds.
Considering the petition, the committee agreed to write to the Soay Sheep Project, the National Trust, Nature Scotland, and animal rights group OneKind to seek official responses.
“That will allow us to have our fuller discussion when we next consider the petition,” says covener Jackson Carlaw MSP.
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