FROM PROTECT THE WILD—IT’S A WIN—GUGA LICENCE REFUSED

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more WE DID IT! GUGA HUNT LICENCE REJECTED! 🎉 A major victory for compassion, for science and for common sense. DEVON DOCHERTY AUG 3 READ IN APP My eyes are brimming with tears as I send you this email to let you know the Guga hunt licence has officially been REJECTED by NatureScot and the hunt will not be going ahead this year. This means 2,000 baby Gannets have been saved from a brutal death of being snatched from their nests and beaten to death by the Guga hunters. Instead, they will get the chance to live. To learn to fly. To become the magnificent seabirds they were always meant to be. This is a historic day - the first time in history the Guga hunt licence has been rejected by NatureScot. A campaign that changed everything Since we got involved in this issue last year, Protect the Wild has been at the forefront of a high-profile campaign against this year’s licence application. Over the past year, together we’ve built the biggest campaign the Guga hunt has ever faced. More than 250,000 of you signed our petition to NatureScot - the largest public response the organisation has ever received on a licensing decision. We produced an animation narrated by Brian Cox that has been viewed more than 15 million times, staged protests at NatureScot’s headquarters and at events attended by its senior leadership, and kept the issue in the national spotlight through creative campaigning - including our founder Rob standing in the most contested seat of the Scottish Parliament election. Our campaign generated extensive national media coverage, including multiple primetime evening news slots, a front page cover on election day, and even a feature on Have I Got News For You, which led to a huge spike in Google searches about the Guga hunt. We commissioned polling that showed this campaign reflected the views of the wider Scottish public, not just a vocal minority. Behind the scenes, we spent countless hours meticulously researching the hunt. We obtained and published previously unseen footage appearing to show hunters frightening nesting Gannets in breach of their licence conditions, prompting widespread public outrage and calls for NatureScot to investigate. We submitted dozens of Freedom of Information requests that uncovered significant new evidence and exposed flaws in NatureScot's approach. We took our findings directly to NatureScot’s licensing team and senior leadership in a series of meetings, challenging the basis on which any licence could lawfully be granted. For decades, the Guga hunt continued with remarkably little scrutiny. That changed this year. We made sure NatureScot could no longer rely on outdated assumptions or incomplete evidence to justify the killing of Gannet chicks. Together, these efforts transformed the Guga hunt from a little-known local tradition into one of Scotland’s most closely scrutinised wildlife controversies, forcing NatureScot to commission its most comprehensive scientific assessment of the hunt to date and confront questions it had never properly answered before. I hope today's decision demonstrates the power of refusing to accept that change has to happen slowly. We were never prepared to stand by while thousands of Gannet chicks continued to be killed each year waiting for the law to change. We believed we had to fight on every front: challenging the licence in the short term while campaigning to change the law for good. And that’s exactly where this campaign goes next. But first, to everyone who stood with us - thank you. Every petition signature, every email, every share, every comment, every donation and every conversation helped shine a spotlight on the Guga hunt and hold NatureScot to account like never before. This victory belongs to every single one of you. A message from Rob Whilst today’s announcement is of course a huge victory for the Gannets, it is not a permanent one. Until the law itself is changed, the hunt could still come back. That’s why I will not just sit around and celebrate. The focus must now shift to the Scottish Parliament and the campaign to amend Section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 so the legal exemption allowing Gannets to be taken from Sula Sgeir is removed once and for all. That is why tomorrow morning I will be walking 16 kilometres around the Scottish Parliament dressed as a Gannet: as a powerful reminder to those at the heart of Scottish politics that removing a single line from the law could protect these seabirds forever. 16 kilometres. £16,000 target. One mission: amend Section 16. Support my fundraising challenge If you’d like to chuck in a few pounds (or £16 if you’re feeling generous!) to the fundraiser I would be very appreciative. We’ve demonstrated what can be achieved with months of focused campaigning, now we need your help to push on and change the law for good. SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing