Man in giant bird costume running for Scottish parliament
The aspiring MSP is up against Angus Robertson and Lorna Slater.
A man dressing up as a giant bird to represent a campaign to ban Scotland’s last seabird hunt is running to be an MSP.
Robert Pownall is the founder of the ardent animal rights group Protect the Wild and based in Gravesend, Kent.
He has announced he will be officially standing as an MSP candidate for Edinburgh Central, meaning the campaigner will be up against the likes of SNP Angus Robertson and Scottish Greens Lorna Slater.
Mr Powell has decided to launch his campaign in the heart of Scotland’s capital city dressed as a giant gannet, which he said he will remain dressed as throughout the election.
Donning a huge bird head and a home-made outfit resembling feathers, the aspiring MSP said the dress-up is to show his commitment to seabird protection and to ending the controversial guga hunt.
The annual cull of gannet chicks - known locally as guga - takes place on Sula Sgeir, a small rocky outcrop 40 miles north of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.
The harvest is a huge part of the culture in Ness, in the north of the island, and represents sustainable food sourcing for local residents.
It involves ten men - called the Men of Ness - who are the only people in Britain legally allowed to hunt the birds on a licence.
The tradition has been ongoing for some 500 years. However, a petition lodged last year calling to ban the hunt has led to “the most toxic” era for the island community in modern times. The paper has gained more than 100,000 signatures and will be considered by the next parliament.
Mr Powell will launch his campaign at Holyrood on Wednesday this week.
The guga hunt has drawn headlines recently given the rise in campaigners across social media calling for it to be banned.
The furore came after Sussex-born photographer Rachel Bigsby lodged a petition to stop the hunt. Animal rights campaigners have jumped on the hype, threatening to hold a protest on Sula Sgeir should the next hunt go ahead.
Because of the public attention in recent months, NatureScot, the government body that licenses the annual harvest, said it has altered its decision-making process. Future licence applications will now be referred to the agency’s board, a spokesperson said, given “the heightened profile of the harvest.”
The Men of Ness carry out careful preparations ahead of the hunt each year to check it’s responsible to go ahead.
Last year was the first time the harvest took place after a three-year hiatus due to avian flu impacting gannet numbers.
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