Ask your MSPs to back a ban on the Guga hunt

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Dear MSPs,

I am writing as your constituent to ask you to back a permanent ban on the Guga hunt - the cruel killing of Gannet chicks on the island of Sula Sgeir.
The exemption allowing this hunt dates back to 1955. More than 70 years later, amid a biodiversity crisis, it is time Parliament removed this relic of the past from Scottish law.

More than half of Scotland’s seabirds have disappeared in the last four decades, under growing pressure from climate change, industrial fishing, habitat loss, offshore development and avian flu. Gannets are among the worst affected species, with an estimated 23–41% of the Sula Sgeir population lost during recent avian flu outbreaks.

NatureScot’s latest science clearly shows that the hunt could leave the population unable to recover within 25 years. There are serious welfare concerns too, with leading authorities including the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission and Scottish SPCA concluding the methods used are inherently inhumane.

Keeping this outdated exemption in law condemns NatureScot to an endless cycle of spending taxpayers’ resources reassessing the hunt year after year. The Guga hunt does not align with the values of a modern Scotland - over 50% of Scots back a ban and the petition to ban it is one the largest in Scottish history, currently sitting at over 115,000 signatures.

Despite this extraordinary level of public concern, the case for ending the hunt is not being adequately represented in Parliament. Recent discussion has prominently featured those defending the hunt, while the serious conservation and animal welfare arguments for changing the law risk going unheard. As my MSP, I am asking you to help ensure those concerns have a voice.

I recognise that the Guga hunt has cultural significance for some people in Ness. But traditions can evolve as our understanding of animal welfare, wildlife conservation and our relationship with nature evolves. The hunt is not necessary for subsistence, and cultural heritage can be celebrated without continuing to kill wild animals.

I am therefore asking you to use your position as my MSP to support a permanent ban on the Guga hunt, including supporting the progression of petition PE2202 through Parliament and pressing the Scottish Government to amend Section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 so that Gannets on Sula Sgeir can no longer be licensed for killing.

I hope I can count on you to act. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

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Ask your MSPs to back a ban on the Guga hunt

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