Protect the Wild continues to protest about the ongoing Guga Hunt on the Isle of Ness, and today they demonstrated outside the NatureScot conference being held in the Royal College of Physicians on Queen Street on Wednesday.
The wildlife campaigners were vocal and loud about the ongoing permission to stage the rare bird hunt outside the venue as delegates arrived.
Devon Docherty, a Scottish campaigns manager at Protect the Wild, told Deadline News: “We are here today because NatureScot, Scotland’s nature agency, is co-hosting a biodiversity conference.
“That’s really ironic, because every year, they are allowing the slaughter of hundreds of native seabirds during the guga hunt.”
In a further statement, Docherty added: “It’s hard to imagine a more striking contradiction than a nature agency co-hosting a biodiversity conference while facilitating the mass-slaughter of protected native seabirds.
“NatureScot’s job is to protect nature and wildlife, not outdated cultural traditions that harm them. It’s baffling that we’re even having to be here reminding them of that.
“On 3 August, NatureScot has a choice: keep defending a cruel hunt that robs Gannets of their only chick, or show that its commitment to biodiversity is more than just words on paper.”
For centuries, thousands of young gannets have been killed for their meat every year on Sula Sgeir, an island 40 miles north of Ness on the Isle of Lewis.
In 2025, NatureScot granted the first Guga hunt license to the Men of Ness since 2021, with a limit of 500 birds allowed to be killed.
However, campaigners against the hunt have said that for this year, an application has been submitted “to kill up to 2,000 Gannet chicks”.
While NatureScot, The Scottish Government’s nature agency, is due to rule on the application on 3 August, protestors have argued that the hunt is “cruel”.
During the 2026 Scottish Parliament election, Rob Pownall, a candidate in Edinburgh Central, dressed in a giant gannet costume every day of his campaign in protest against the Guga hunt. He is also the person who dressed as a fox in the recent by-election in Makerfield where Andy Burnham won the seat for Labour.
Earlier this month, NatureScot issued a statement on the 2026 Guga hunt application, saying: “We understand there are strong feelings about the guga hunt, and that some people will disagree with it taking place.
“The hunt is recognised in law under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, which makes specific provision for the granting of a licence for the purpose of providing food for human consumption in relation to the gannets on the island of Sula Sgeir. Our role is to make licensing decisions based on the most recent scientific evidence.
“In 2025, we received our first licence application from the Men of Ness since 2021. After reviewing the survey data, collected in 2024 following bird flu outbreaks, we reduced the maximum number of birds that can be taken from 2,000 to 500 and a licence was granted on the condition that all birds must be killed humanely. This ensures the gannet population on Sula Sgeir remains stable for the future. The 2025 licence has now expired.”
NatureScot has been contacted for comment on Wednesday.
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