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Scottish Wildlife Trust submission of 8 December 2021

PE1888/C: Full legal protection for hedgehogs and moles

You asked for our views on PE1888: Full legal protection for hedgehogs and moles which calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to grant full legal protection to hedgehogs and moles.

The Trust is very concerned about the decline in hedgehog numbers, which is highlighted by the fact that it is currently considered vulnerable to extinction on the Red List for Scottish Mammals. We would like to see concerted action to protect these and other vulnerable species by directly addressing the causes of their decline. In the hedgehog’s case the decline is driven by changing land use and agricultural intensification, predation and road accidents . We would like to see a joined-up response to reverse these trends and increased legal protection would need to be considered alongside other alternative approaches that could help them recover, to find the most effective solutions.

There does not seem to be evidence that suggests moles have experienced similar declines to those of hedgehogs, although given the general trends in biodiversity in Scotland as illustrated by the State of Nature Report we do need to mitigate the impacts that human activity has on all biodiversity.

We need to show more urgency about addressing the decline in biodiversity in Scotland if we are to achieve Scottish Government’s ambition to address both the nature and climate crises together. Our priorities for action are summarised in this recent blog  and progress on these issues would bring significant benefits to biodiversity as a whole.

Thanks for giving us the opportunity to comment and do let me know if you have any further questions.