Journalist John Macleod defends the traditional guga hunt, an annual cull of young gannets by men from the Isle of Lewis on the remote rock of Sula Sgeir, arguing it is a centuries-old Hebridean custom being unfairly attacked by campaigners who do not understand it. He contends that the hunt is legally sanctioned, ecologically sustainable and deeply embedded in the culture and identity of Ness, and that vocal online critics are drowning out reasoned debate with emotive outrage rather than engaging with the facts.

The article sets out the long history of the guga hunt, noting that a licensed crew from Ness has travelled to Sula Sgeir each August for generations to harvest a strictly limited quota of young gannets under a special exemption to wildlife protection law. Macleod argues that the practice is carefully regulated, sustainably managed and supported by scientific evidence on seabird populations, and criticises what he sees as a modern tendency for social media campaigns to override tradition, local livelihoods and community consent through sheer volume of noise rather than informed argument.