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Call to phase out ‘inhumane’ guga hunt by working with Hebridean islanders

Annual killing of infant gannets has been carried out on a remote Scottish island for at least 400 years

Animal welfare campaigners have called for talks on phasing out the “inhumane” hunt for infant gannets known as guga, which are killed by hunters on a remote Scottish island once a year.

OneKind and the League Against Cruel Sports said it should be slowly phased out in dialogue with the Hebridean islanders who see the hunt, which has been carried out for at least 400 years, as a cultural pursuit and as sustainable food harvesting.

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© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

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Arizona lake closes indefinitely to visitors after all of its fish die

Wildlife department says drought conditions and water released from dam led to ‘major fish kill’ at San Carlos Lake

Arizona officials have indefinitely closed a popular lake to visitors after its entire population of fish died recently.

The recreation and wildlife department that maintains San Carlos Lake said in a Facebook statement on Friday that drought conditions as well as water released from a dam there “resulted in a major fish kill affecting approximately 100% of the fish population”.

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© Photograph: San Carlos Recreation and Wildlife Department

© Photograph: San Carlos Recreation and Wildlife Department

© Photograph: San Carlos Recreation and Wildlife Department

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Octopus surge spreads up UK coast as far as Scotland, study finds

Record numbers linked to warming waters is mixed news for fishers, with shellfish catches down but octopus catches booming

Record numbers of octopuses found off the south-west coast of England last year have now spread as far as Scotland and Wales and are transforming the fishing industry and the marine ecosystem, according to a study.

The surge in sightings of one of the world’s most intelligent invertebrates was first recorded in 2025 off the south coast of Devon and Cornwall.

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© Photograph: Kirsty Andrews

© Photograph: Kirsty Andrews

© Photograph: Kirsty Andrews

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Japanese city shuts down nearly 100 schools after unprecedented bear sighting

Police and hunters in Utsunomiya, 100km north of the capital, resume their search for animal that is not usually seen so close to Tokyo

A city in Japan has closed all its 94 primary and secondary schools after a bear was spotted in the municipality for the first time.

Officials in Utsunomiya, a city of half a million people about 100km (62 miles) north of Tokyo, took action after a medium-sized black bear – estimated to be about one-metre-long – was seen near a park in the city on Saturday. The bear was spotted again on CCTV running just in front of two startled young men in the city centre, in the early hours of Sunday.

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© Photograph: Yoshihiro Sato

© Photograph: Yoshihiro Sato

© Photograph: Yoshihiro Sato

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