Hedgehogs must be equipped with GPS trackers as part of a remarkable attempt to expel around 4,000 of the creatures from a group of Scottish islands.
Satellite technology will be used to control hedgehogs on the island of Benbecula, so that scientists can build a detailed image of their daily routines, such as where they sleep, how far they walk around and where they go to find food.
The animals are considered a threat to the populations of wild birds and the GPS project – in which tags mounted on the spines of the beings will pass on information to a job to satellites – is the first step to complete them and complete them and Then transfer them to the mainland.
By using trackers to learn about the behavior of the hedgehog, nature conservationists hope to identify the most suitable sites for their new houses.
The bizarre relocation, which costs £ 23,000, is the latest development in a long-term attempt to protect Birdlife in the outer Hebrides against hedgehogs-with earlier efforts with snipers, deadly injections, electric fences and a cash-based floor.
Hedgehogs only arrived at UIST – a chain of islands with Benbecula, Noord -ist and South Uist – about 50 years ago when four were introduced by a gardener who hoped they would eat the nude snails that are lettuce.
Without natural predators, however, they multiplied quickly and towards the end of the 1990s the population had risen to around 10,000.
Although hedgehogs are one of the most beloved animals of the nation, they party on bird eggs, who have had a devastating impact on various important species.
It is thought that the hedgehogs arrived on islands when a gardener was released a few years ago
All hedgehogs removed from Benbecula are scanned on diseases before they are released
As reported in the Scottish mail on Sunday last year, Bird Charity RSPB Scotland and Wildlife Agency Naturescot are planning to catch every hedgehog and move it to UIST.
But to ensure that the switch to the mainland will not cause any problems, experts will use GPS trackers to find out more about hedgehog habits.
RSPB documents mention: “The project is looking for a contractor for GPS track hedgehogs on Benbecula to better understand their behavior.”
There is now a 'very competent specialist in following nature (preferably hedgehogs)' who can use 'tracking equipment … and the hedgehogs follow for sufficient time to provide insight into their current home reach'.
The tags, the documents say, must enable the animals to be followed at all times, even in their nests or caves or when they roam in the Machair, the distinctive coastal meadows found in the Hebrides.
The tracking project runs from May to August this year.
RSPB Scotland believes that the project is of vital importance for the preservation of birds and explains: 'Uist supports internationally important populations of soil-nesting birds, including Dunlin, Ginged Plover, Redhank, Snipe, Lapwing and Oystercatcher.
“The predation of nests through hedgehogs is an important and removable distribution of conservation for the island's breeding birds.” From the early 2000s, various attempts have been made to eradicate the UIST tiles.
Rabbit – nets 'exclusion zones' were set up around nest areas – but the animals just climbed over it. They also swam around an 18-inch high electric fence.
A plan to hire snipers was dropped after a public protest, although hundreds later were killed by fatal injection.
Islanders were also offered a reward of £ 5 for every hedgehog they caught.
Sniffer dogs and falls were later brought in. Although North Uist is currently supposed to be free of hedgehogs, an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 remain on Benbecula and South Uist.
The GPS tracking project will be checked by a working group of a Hedgehog -release strategy, including experts in Egelbiology and population, disease risk and translocations.
Separately, the hedgehogs of Benbecula must be assessed on illness, to ensure that when they are moved to the mainland, they do not transfer infection to all the animals that are already there.
Surveys are carried out on the mainland to identify six suitable locations for repetition.
Researchers from the University of Otago in New Zealand previously used GPS trackers to control the winter leaf patterns of hedgehogs living in the Mackenzie -Bekken.
