The main aim of the project is to:
The Orkney Native Wildlife Project aims to safeguard the unique and internationally important native wildlife of Orkney by addressing the threat it faces from an invasive non-native predator: the stoat.
Protect Orkney's native wildlife by eradicating stoats and returning the islands to their natural stoat-free status
The project will also provide a lasting legacy by:
Putting in place biosecurity plans for the mainland and other islands to ensure stoats don't spread and to prevent them returning in the future.
Long-term native wildlife monitoring including developing a citizen science programme that will continue after the project has ended.
Engaging communities and visitors with local wildlife and raising awareness of the islands' importance for wildlife with tourism providers.
Engaging Orkney’s young people with local wildlife through an education programme in schools and opportunities outside of school.
This ambitious partnership project is the first stoat eradication conducted in the northern hemisphere, the largest island stoat eradication in the world to date and the first of its size on fully inhabited islands.
The project employs around 30 staff at any one time, who work alongside local communities, tourism groups, schools, farmers and land managers with the aim of providing lasting benefits for the wildlife, people and economy of these unique islands.
The project team is supported by colleagues from all three partner organisations as well as an independent Technical Advisory Group and the International Eradication Advisory Group.
Watch our short video introducing the project, who we are and why we do it, below.