AR-News: PLEASE HELP STOP THE 'GUGA HUNT'

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From: veganswines <veganswines at yahoo.com>
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PLEASE HELP STOP THE 'GUGA HUNT'


Each year, around August, approximately 10 fishermen from the island of
Lewis in the Scottish Outer Hebrides sail from the Port of Ness to the
Island of Sula Sgeir on a 'guga hunt'. Gugas are baby gannets.

The 'guga hunt' involves the fishermen plucking about 2,000 baby gannets
from the cliff faces using poles of up to 10 feet long with a sprung metal
jaw on the end. The chicks are then clubbed to death before being
decapitated.

Chicks that are too small to 'harvest' or to fly to escape, panic and fall
down the cliffs to their deaths, whilst their frantic parents fly overhead.
The birds that are caught and killed are sold in the Port of Ness as a
delicacy.

The Guga Hunt is often justified on the grounds of 'culture' and 'tradition
 - it is thought to have been going on regularly since at least the 14th
century. We are all for preserving culture and traditions, but not when they
involve cruelty to animals.

The EU Conservation of Wild Birds Directive (79/409/EEC) protects gannets
within the EU. However, the UK's Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 gives the
hunting and killing of gannets on the island of Sula Sgeir special
derogation under the EU Directive. This 'guga hunt' is carried out under
licence from the Scottish Executive.

Advocates for Animals believes that this mass slaughter has no place in a
modern civilised country and that the gannet chicks on Sula Sgeir should be
afforded the same legal protection as other gannet chicks in the rest of
Scotland.

ACTION

 a.. Please contact the Scottish Executive's Countryside & Natural Heritage
Unit: ceu at scotland.gov.uk

Politely express your concern that the barbaric guga hunt is still allowed
to continue in the 21st century. Tradition is no excuse for cruelty. Ask the
Scottish Executive to afford the gannet chicks on Sula Sgeir the same
protection as gannets in the rest of Scotland by removing the special
derogation that allows the hunt to continue.

 a.. Please copy your message to Ross Finnie MSP, the Scottish Executive's
Minister with responsibility for Animal Welfare:
MinisterforEnvironmentandRuralDevelopment at scotland.gsi.gov.uk

 a.. If you live in Scotland, please also express your concern to your
Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and ask them to take action to end
the guga hunt. For details of your MSPs visit:
www.scottish.parliament.uk/msps/index.htm

Thank you.
Yours sincerely
ROSS MINETT
Campaigns Director
Advocates for Animals
10 Queensferry Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH2 4PG
Tel: +44 (0)131 225 6039   Fax: +44 (0)131 220 6377
www.advocatesforanimals.org.uk
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