The Shiants are rat-fee

[Malcolm Ogilvie]

More terrific conservation news as the Shiants, the group of islands in The Minch with
their large numbers of breeding seabirds are declared rat-free after an programme to
eliminate the introduced Black Rat has proved to be successful. There is now every
expectation that Manx Shearwaters and Storm Petrels will return to breed there.

Angus Macmillan, an animal rights supporter, is on record as having objected to the rat
removal though he was unable to come up with a rational reason. Indeed, among his
objections was the claim that the decaying carcases of the rats would "spread any number
of diseases", though when asked to name a disease, he, of course, couldn't. Indeed, in
typical Angus fashion, having been asked this question a number of times and failing to
answer, he adopted his usual position by saying that I had to do my own research, the
equivalent of a small child putting his hands over his ears and saying he couldn't hear
the question.

Angus's objections to the removal of introduced rats from offshore islands - Handa, Lundy,
Canna, St Agnes, Gugh, and Ailsa Craig, among others, with a recent major success in the
South Atlantic with the eradication of rats from South Georgia - have all failed to save a
single rat, while the programmes of eradication have meant the survival and increase of
many bird populations.

Malcolm