EXCLUSIVE: Extra £150k for stoat scheme after Rousay incursion
More money has been given to Orkney’s stoat eradication efforts after the invasive species spread to Rousay.
A boost of almost £150,000 has been provided to Orkney Native Wildlife Project (ONWP), The Orcadian can reveal.
It was in May that the eradication team was hit by a setback — confirmation that Rousay was no longer stoat free.
Since then 229 traps and 59 cameras have been deployed to catch what is thought to be a single male mustelid. It was most recently spotted on camera on September 6.
The new funding for the £16 million effort has been confirmed following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by The Orcadian.
The internal papers from NatureScot, one of the organisations behind ONWP, describe the urgent need to respond to the spread of the stoats.
It was in early April that a visitor to Rousay first reported a potential stoat sighting, prompting a redoubling of response efforts, with dog searches, cameras, and extra traps deployed.
The presence of a stoat was then confirmed at the start of May, with the bid for extra funding being made on May 20.
“Resources are urgently required to run a full incursion response across the island to locate and remove animals before they have a chance to establish and require a full eradication effort to remove, costing several million pounds,” the extra funding proposals states.
The document also explains the risk of stoats spreading from Rousay to other stoat-free isles.
NatureScot confirmed ONWP’s request for an extra £148,790 at the start of June.
A spokesman for ONWP said the project already had money to cover biosecurity checks and respond to potential sightings in the isles.
However, it didn’t have enough funding for the scale of a response needed if the presence of a stoat was confirmed.
The spokesman added: “Once we confirmed there was a stoat in Rousay the project had to increase the use of staff and resources coming from the mainland eradication.
“This was a short-term solution to ensure that Rousay was responded to in the most appropriate way, but it inevitably meant a reduction in effort/ pressure in the eradication area.
“The additional funding covers some staffing and resources to ensure that, beyond the initial stage, the incursion response received appropriate effort while not further undermining the eradication.”
Previously, ONWP has said that the risk of stoats spreading by swimming should be decreasing as numbers on the Mainland decline.
However, the project said that Rousay is within a distance that a stoat could easily cover open water.