St Kilda sheep deaths

Early day motion 1482, tabled 17 July 2023 by Angus MacNeil (Independent). Signed by 6 members.

That this House recognises that all sheep in the islands of the UK are protected animals under the respective animal welfare legislation, apart from the feral Soay and Boreray sheep on the St Kilda archipelago, for which the Scottish government have created an exception, thereby leaving them subject to high levels of mortality as a result of winter starvation, averaging a thousand animals dying each year across the three flocks; notes that society would not tolerate this level of unnecessary suffering in any more accessible location; calls on the Scottish government to reconsider this decision and to include the sheep as protected animals under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006; and urges the National Trust for Scotland, as owners and managers of St. Kilda, to implement active measures to ensure the population stability of the flocks and safeguard the wellbeing of the sheep, both individually and collectively.

Signatures by party: Alba 1, DUP 1, Independent 1, Labour 1, Labour/Co-operative 1, Scottish National Party 1.