Latest news with #IsleofSkye
BBC News
4 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Injured climber rescued after 15m fall on Skye mountain
A climber who fell 15m (50ft) on a mountain on the Isle of Skye has been rescued after suffering multiple Mountain Rescue said the incident happened on Tuesday on the north-west ridge of Sgùrr nan Eag, a 924m (3,000ft) munro in the Cuillin range.A coastguard helicopter carried 10 team members part way up the hill before the rescuers continued on foot to reach the casualty. The man was airlifted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness and has since been rescue team said they had responded to almost 20 call-outs in May.
BBC News
20-05-2025
- BBC News
Skye salmon farm suspended by RSPCA over alleged abuse videos
A fish farm on the Isle of Skye has been suspended from an animal welfare scheme after campaigners filmed videos allegedly showing "systemic cruelty" to rights campaigners from the Green Britain Foundation said the footage from the Mowi farm at Loch Harport showed the fish being beaten and suffocated to urged the RSPCA to suspend the company's 54 other salmon farms in Scotland, which are still certified under the charity's Assured labelling said it was fully cooperating with the RSPCA on its investigation, adding that its salmon are well cared for and the footage had been misconstrued. The Green Britain Foundation said its videos showed more than 18 incidents of animal cruelty across multiple days in March 2025. 'Extremely upsetting' The RSPCA is investigating the fish farm rather than SSPCA because the salmon is sold under one of its has now instructed supermarkets to remove Mowi salmon products from their RSPCA said the videos were "extremely upsetting" and it was "totally unacceptable for any animal to be treated in this way".The footage has also been reported to the Animal and Plant Health Agency - a government body which can take legal action if welfare standards require that the time a fish spends out of water should "never exceed 15 seconds for a live fish" and that dying fish should be given "a non-recoverable percussive blow to the head of the fish to render it immediately insensible". But the Green Britain Foundation claimed the footage showed fish being left out of the water to suffocate for minutes at a time, and some being beaten several times before they finally Dale Vince said: "This footage of cruelty on a Mowi fish farm is absolutely horrifying. "These are not isolated incidents - this is systematic cruelty showing a complete disregard for animal welfare, for sentient life. "This isn't just a breach of standards - it's a culture of cruelty that has no place in any industry - let alone one claiming to meet RSPCA welfare standards."He urged the RSPCA should "drop Mowi entirely - not just this one farm"."Anything less would be a betrayal of their own standards and the animals they claim to protect," Mr Vince added. 'Humane method' However Mowi Scotland said the Green Britain Foundation was "known for its opposition to farming animals for people to eat". A spokesperson said: "The husbandry staff featured in the footage were removing around 12 poor performing salmon from a large pen holding more than 40,000 healthy salmon. "Our salmon at the farm are in great condition, are looked after and are reared in clean water off the west coast of Scotland."We are fully cooperating with the RSPCA while its team conducts a full investigation. While we do understand that the footage showing these fish being dispatched may be concerning to some people, percussive stun to dispatch fish is the most effective and humane method in these circumstances."They added: "The staff are working on floating pens in what appears to be a very windy day so would be trying to ensure that the fish are stunned as quickly as possible and so some fish received multiple blows, but that is to ensure they are quickly euthanised."Mowi Scotland said it would refresh animal welfare training for its farming teams to ensure they meet RSPCA standards.
The Independent
12-05-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Mystery stone circle reveals ‘ultimate adventure story' of human presence in Europe
Strange stone circles found at the Isle of Skye could be evidence of the earliest human occupation of Scotland's frigid northwest, pushing survival boundaries, a new study says. The research sheds more light on the 'ultimate adventure' undertaken by early humans to reach the ' far end ' of Scotland, say archaeologists from the University of Glasgow. The enigmatic circles, each between 3 and 5m (10 and 16ft) in size, as well as stone tools found at the site, have been dated to around 11,500 – 11,000 years ago – an era known as the Late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP) period. This provides proof of what was likely a large concentration of a pioneer human population at this Scottish site, which appears to be below modern sea level. The new findings, published in The Journal of Quaternary Science, indicate that early humans from this period ventured much further north than previously believed. 'This is a hugely significant discovery which offers a new perspective on the earliest human occupation yet known, of north-west Scotland,' said archaeologist Karen Hardy, who led the study. During this period, when much of west Scotland was buried under ice, nomadic hunter-gatherers from northern Europe crossed Doggerland, an area that is now covered by the North Sea, to occupy Skye, researchers say. 'The journey made by these pioneering people who left their lowland territories in mainland Europe to travel northwards into the unknown, is the ultimate adventure story,' Dr Hardy said. 'As they journeyed northwards, most likely following animal herds, they eventually reached Scotland, where the western landscape was dramatically changing as glaciers melted and the land rebounded as it recovered from the weight of the ice,' he said. On reaching the Isle of Skye, these early people crafted tools from stone found locally. They chose to settle down at the place due to its good access to coastal and riverine resources, as well as natural materials like ochre which were highly valued by ancient cultures, researchers say. The new study reflects an early human presence in the extreme northwest of Europe, pushing boundaries of survival in frigid conditions. Here, the early humans lived in a fragmented, fluctuating, and volatile environment amid melting glaciers, mountains, and oceans – vastly different from the low-lying environments of the northwestern edge of the Great European Plain. The island's early population likely originated in the mainland of northwest Europe, 'crossed Doggerland into what is now Britain, and eventually reached the far north of the Isle of Skye', according to the study. 'Together with the new stone alignments and several other nearby sites, this region now contains more evidence for the LUP than anywhere else in Scotland,' scientists wrote.
