A stoat has been captured on the Scottish island of Rousay after a seven-month operation costing £150,000. The animal was trapped on October 9 after searches involving specialist dogs, AI-assisted trail cameras and other monitoring equipment.
The stoat was first reported on the Orkney island in April, with the sighting confirmed the following month. It was believed to have reached Rousay by swimming from elsewhere in the Orkneys.
Its presence raised concerns because stoats can threaten native species including owls and the Orkney vole. The Orkney Native Wildlife Project (ONWP), which helped lead the response, said the captured animal was male and that there was no evidence of female stoats breeding on the island.
The organisation said it was confident the incursion involved only one animal, although it added that this still needed to be established with complete certainty.
Alice Head-Rapson, an ONWP trapper who set the box trap, said the operation had tested the team’s abilities.
“This incursion response was a test of our skills, but everybody at the project stepped up to meet the moment,” she said.
Ms Head-Rapson said she and a colleague had spent the summer and autumn monitoring Rousay and expanding the network of traps, focusing on areas where the stoat had been seen, including the Loch of Loomachun.
“Our work has certainly paid off!” she said. “It’s still important we guarantee with complete confidence that the stoat we’ve trapped was the only one, but our achievement here is a big deal and we hope that will help to keep nature safe across all of Orkney.”
Local volunteers also supported the search. Islander Ian Barker said the team had been trying to find one fast-moving animal across 4,500 hectares, much of it heather moorland that was difficult to cross and provided plenty of cover.
“It has been great to see professionals and volunteers coming together and achieving this common goal,” he said. “I’m really happy that we succeeded in catching this stoat, and that we’ve managed to protect our native wildlife.”
Stoats are native to mainland Britain but have been an invasive non-native predator in Orkney since 2010. More than 9,100 have been removed to date, with landowners, volunteers and members of the public reporting sightings helping to reduce the threat.
