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Stop the Cruel Slaughter of Gannet Chicks

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Young gannets should not be taken from their nests and killed for tradition in a country that claims to protect wildlife. Take action now!

Close-up of two white gannets with pale yellow heads and blue-ringed eyes touching beaks against the sea.

Each year, a license can allow hunters to travel to Sula Sgeir, a remote island north of Lewis, and take young northern gannets before they can fly. The birds, known as gugas, are killed for meat under a legal exception tied to tradition.1

This practice survives because Section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 still allows licenses for taking gannets on Sula Sgeir. A Scottish Parliament petition now calls for that power to be removed so the hunt cannot continue under government approval.2

A Tradition Cannot Excuse Unnecessary Suffering

Supporters call the Guga Hunt cultural heritage. But the original need has changed. Campaigners argue the hunt is no longer about survival, but the killing of vulnerable young birds for a delicacy.3

Gannets return from winter at sea to raise a single chick. The hunt targets those young birds before they have reached independence, adding human-caused death to the threats seabirds already face from disease, climate pressure, and food stress.4

Sula Sgeir’s Colony Needs Protection

Campaigners have raised serious concerns about the health of the Sula Sgeir colony. Protect the Wild reported that documents obtained through Freedom of Information showed Sula Sgeir underperforming compared with other Scottish gannet colonies, even before avian influenza caused further losses.5

Despite those concerns, a license was granted in 2025 for up to 500 birds after the hunt had paused since 2021.6 Public pressure has grown through petitions, protests, and national attention, including campaigners using bird costumes to bring the issue to Holyrood and the wider public.7

Scotland Can End This Loophole

The Scottish Parliament can help move Scotland toward a more humane standard by urging the Scottish Government to amend the law. Removing this licensing power would protect gannets on Sula Sgeir and make clear that tradition cannot justify avoidable cruelty.

Sign the petition urging the Scottish Parliament to help end the Guga Hunt and protect young gannets from licensed killing.

More on this issue:

  1. BBC News, BBC (16 July 2025), "Scotland's last surviving guga hunt to resume this summer."
  2. Rachel Bigsby, Scottish Parliament (3 November 2025), "PE2202: Stop the Guga Hunt."
  3. Eva Cahill, Oceanographic Magazine (13 January 2026), "Campaigners call for an end to Scotland's guga hunt tradition."
  4. Rob Pownall, Protect the Wild (8 May 2026), "Standing on a national stage in a bid to end the Guga hunt."
  5. Devon Docherty, Protect the Wild (28 March 2026), "SCANDAL: Guga hunt island is Scotland’s worst performing Gannet colony."
  6. Focusing on Wildlife (30 September 2025), "Guga hunt tradition returns after licence granted. 500 gannets were killed for their meat during an annual hunt on Sula Sgeir."
  7. Scottish Daily Express, Scottish Daily Express (Date unavailable), "What is the guga hunt? Protestors in bird costumes get in a flap outside Holyrood."

The Petition

To the Members of the Scottish Parliament,

I am writing to urge the Scottish Parliament to call on the Scottish Government to amend Section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to remove the power to grant licences for taking gannets on Sula Sgeir.

The Guga Hunt is often defended as tradition, but tradition alone cannot justify the continued killing of young wild birds. Gannets are long-lived seabirds that invest heavily in raising a single chick. After months of parental care, those young birds should have the chance to fledge, leave the colony, and enter the life cycle Scotland’s marine ecosystems depend upon.

Instead, the current legal framework allows licences to be issued so young gannets can be taken and killed for meat. That may once have been linked to survival in a different era, but it is no longer necessary. Scotland now has an opportunity to align its wildlife law with modern standards of compassion, conservation, and public responsibility.

This is especially urgent because seabirds face intense pressure. Avian influenza has damaged colonies. Climate change, shifting fish availability, and other human-driven threats have made recovery harder. Against that backdrop, allowing a licensed hunt to remove young birds from a protected colony sends the wrong message about Scotland’s commitment to wildlife.

The issue is not whether cultural history matters. It does. But cultural practices can and should evolve when they cause unnecessary harm. The law should not preserve a loophole that permits avoidable suffering, especially when the animals affected are vulnerable young seabirds with no ability to escape.

I ask you to support action that ends this licensing exception and protects gannets on Sula Sgeir from future hunts. Amending Section 16 would be a clear, humane, and practical step. It would respect Scotland’s natural heritage not by allowing young birds to be killed, but by ensuring they are given the chance to survive.

Please urge the Scottish Government to remove the power to grant licences for taking gannets on Sula Sgeir. These actions will ensure a better future for all.

Sincerely,

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