The new owners of Inchconnachan island on Loch Lomond, Kirsty Young and her husband Nick Jones MBE (chief executive of Soho House UK Ltd) intend to eradicate the famous Loch Lomond wallabies and build holiday lets on the island,  a fragile area of special scientific interest and special area of conservation.

The wallabies have lived on the island for 80 years, originally introduced to the island in the 1940's, their population has remained contained to the small island since then. No evidence has been presented to explain how the wallabies are harmful to the local environment, the island remains a thriving oasis of wildlife and nature. Scotland, the region and the island are all greatly enhanced by their presence.

The wallabies have great historic, social and cultural significance, they are adored by locals and tourists alike, with many boat trips in the area having the chance of seeing the wallabies as their star attraction. Many tourists visit the local area simply to see these wonderful marsupials bringing economic benefits to the area. 

The hypocrisy of wanting to remove these beautiful and harmless animals in the name of the environment while simultaneously making plans to construct holiday lets on the fragile habitat is truly absurd. What causes more environmental damage the wallabies or concrete?

The purpose of this petition is to gain protection for these wallabies so they can continue to cause wonder to many and benefit the local area for generations to come, and to block construction of the proposed holiday lets so that this wonderful and unique habitat can live on wild, unchanged and undamaged by these plans. 

To this end we want the Scottish government to pass legislation which protects both the wallabies and their habitat.