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Rogue stoat that swam to Scottish island outwits AI cameras and dogs for five months in £150,000 hunt

A stoat like the one that evaded dogs, thermal drones and AI cameras for five months before being trapped near the Loch of Loomachun on Rousay, a £150,000 operation to catch it.
A stoat like the one that evaded dogs, thermal drones and AI cameras for five months before being trapped near the Loch of Loomachun on Rousay, a £150,000 operation to catch it.

A lone male stoat finally fell into a trap near the Loch of Loomachun on Rousay, Orkney, on Saturday after evading a £150,000 eradication operation for more than five months. The Orkney Native Wildlife Project deployed 61 trail cameras, AI-assisted thermal imaging and trained sniffer dogs across 4,500 hectares of heather moorland to catch the single animal. Conservationists believe it swam to the island from elsewhere in Orkney after sightings were first reported in April.

Stoats are not native to Orkney and threaten the unique Orkney vole, found nowhere else on earth, as well as ground-nesting birds.

By September, the operation had grown to 61 cameras — 25 AI-assisted — and 174 additional traps to catch one creature.

Biosecurity volunteer Ian Barker said: 'Finding this stoat raised a lot of challenges — most of the island is heather moorland, very easy for stoats to hide in.'

MoreThe IndependentRogue stoat evades AI cameras and dogs for five months in £150,000 huntIrish IndependentRogue stoat evades AI-assisted cameras and dogs on Scottish island for five months in £150,000 huntPTTL.grOne stoat, 61 cameras and six months of searching on a Scottish island - PTTL.gr
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