Outlaw the Guga hunt - Letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs

‼️ PLEASE READ ‼️

Please remember to include your name at the bottom of the letter. If you’re having trouble using our email tool (for example if it’s not loading properly or you get an error message) simply copy and paste the message below, add your own words, and send it directly from your email to:

CabSecforCARA@gov.scot

———————————————–

Every year, up to 2000 Northern Gannet chicks are taken from their nests on the Scottish island of Sula Sgeir and killed for a cultural delicacy during Guga hunt. There is simply no place for this cruel and unnecessary practice in modern times.

NatureScot have rejected the 2026 Guga hunt licence because it was found to undermine the Gannet’s conservation. But the Guga hunters can still apply in future years unless the law is changed. Now it is time for the Scottish Government to act and remove the legal exemption allowing the Guga hunt to continue.

Letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs - Outlaw the Guga hunt for good

5945 people have taken action so far. Help us reach 10000

First name

Last name

Phone

Subject

Letter

Dear Gillian Martin MSP,

I am writing to ask the Scottish Government to outlaw the Guga hunt by changing the law so that the killing of Gannets on Sula Sgeir can no longer be licensed.

The public wants change. Recent polling found that more than 50% of Scots want the Guga hunt banned, while more than 100,000 people have backed a Scottish Parliament petition calling for it to end.

The special legal provision allowing Gannets to be taken from Sula Sgeir was first introduced in 1955, more than 70 years ago, before being carried forward into the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Scotland has changed enormously since then. So too have our understanding of animal welfare, the pressures facing wildlife and public expectations of how wild animals should be treated.

NatureScot’s rejection of the 2026 licence should be a turning point. Its latest scientific assessment found that allowing the hunt could undermine conservation objectives and hinder the long-term recovery of Sula Sgeir’s Gannet population, who already face severe threats from avian flu, offshore wind, and industrial fishing.

Keeping a special legal provision that allows an already struggling native species to be hunted flies in the face of your Government’s commitment to reverse biodiversity loss. The Guga hunt is an entirely avoidable threat to Gannets - and one the Scottish Government has the power to remove for good.

There are serious welfare concerns too. Leading animal welfare organisations and experts including the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission, SSPCA and Humane Slaughter Association have all concluded the killing of young Gannets by blunt force trauma during the Guga hunt is not humane.

There is no justification for keeping this exemption. The hunt is not necessary for food security or livelihoods, with Guga now consumed as a delicacy.

Yet while the law remains unchanged, further applications can be made, requiring NatureScot to repeatedly spend public time and resources assessing an unnecessary and avoidable activity. Culture and tradition can be celebrated without continuing practices that harm wildlife.

Please listen to the public call for change and commit to amending Section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to permanently outlaw the Guga hunt.

Yours sincerely,

Keep me updated! I want to receive emails from Protect the Wild about this campaign and other British wildlife news. You can unsubscribe at any time. (See our Privacy Policy here.)

Shop

donate

Adopt

Letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs - Outlaw the Guga hunt for good

© 2025 Protect the Wild | All Rights Reserved