Police have confirmed that they have launched an investigation after threats were issued against controversial guga-hunters in the Western Isles.
It has been claimed that the threats were related to a group of 10 men who spent a fortnight on a rocky outcrop 40 miles north of Lewis to bring home the annual harvest of young gannets.
A series of anonymous phone calls were reportedly made to people in the area from telephone numbers which are understood to have originated in the south of England.
The men were due back home last night with their haul of 2,000 solan geese, which are prized in the local area as a culinary delicacy, with each individual bird fetching around £13.
It is a tradition that dates back centuries and is licensed by the Scottish Government as the annual cull helps control the huge numbers of nesting birds on “Sula Sgeir” – the rock of the gannets.
However, over the years it has attracted the ire of animal rights activists who have repeatedly called for the “barbaric” practice to cease.
A police investigation has now been launched into the source of the threatening phone calls.
A spokesman for the force said: “We have received a complaint and our enquiries are ongoing.”
During the fortnight hunt, the men live in basic stone bothies on the rock, scaling down sheer cliff faces to find the young gannets before preparing them for the trip home by fishing boat.
According to a report commissioned by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) the guga hunt is not affecting the bird’s numbers.
About 2,000 of the birds are harvested in August on Sula Sgeir, a small island about 40 miles north of Ness on Lewis.
SNH has said that research demonstrated that the birds were “faring fairly well” on the isle. It said the study also suggested the harvest was sustainable long term.
Animal welfare charity the Scottish SPCA and campaigns organisation Care2 have opposed the harvest.