Stoat scheme ‘nuclear option’ revealed

Internal Orkney Native Wildlife Project (ONWP) papers, released to The Orcadian, suggest that a plan to use “species control orders” could be enforced on local farmers in future.

The use of legal powers — acknowledged as a last resort — compelling landowners to co-operate with the stoat eradication scheme in Orkney has been mooted as a possible course of action, the papers reveal.

The £16 million eradication effort — the biggest of its kind in the world — has boasted success in the recovery of native species, saying last week that the “project’s final phase is in sight.”

A new report from ONWP says that, since the stoat killing began in 2019, signs of Orkney voles have increased, wader nest success rates in Mainland sites have been up at least 100 per cent, and hen harriers have enjoyed their “most successful year.”

But The Orcadian has seen internal records, from earlier this year, which suggest that the project might not succeed if trappers continue to be refused access to some areas of land.

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