Hedgehogs are not an indigenous species to the Hebrides. They were apparently introduced in 1974, by a gardener to keep the slug population in his garden under control.

From small acorns: His original three hedgehogs now number some 5,000 and the wee buggers are devouring the eggs of ground nesting birds at a gourmet gallop. As the birds in question are rare; redshank, dunlin and lapwing, they bring in the tourist. The hedgehogs are having a grand time and have decimated the bird population, with some species down by 60%.

Now though is the reckoning and there is a vociferous lobby that wants to cull the hedgehogs.

As usual, as soon as any animal is under any kind of threat, the cat-lovers of the world unite and all hell breaks loose.

Well, stuff the cat-lovers. FirstFoot senses a business opportunity here. Gas the prickly wee fuckers and send 5,000 spiny corpses to us at FirstFoot. The world can then look forward to the following exclusive merchandise:

	Hedgehog Novelty Roller Skate for the Kids - we remove the guts to make room for small feet - £450
	Be the talk of your friends with these hedgehog stereo speakers. Specially strengthened to make sure they don't explode - £14,000
	Designer lamp - now the light does shine out their arses - £ 700
	A barbecue with barbs - light your next barbie with our hedgehog charcoal - £35
	The hedgehogs are really in the shit with this designer lavvy brush - £140