Can you go to Anthrax Island?
Yes, you can go to Anthrax Island if you have a boat. Or in our case a kayak! If you fancy a trip to the Island why not contact Highland Experiences Ltd (formerly Gairloch Canoe and Kayak Centre). The real question should be, Is it safe to visit Anthrax Island?
Is it safe to visit Anthrax Island, Scotland?
Anthrax Island was finally classified as free of Anthrax in 1990. After operation Dark Harvest, a campaign which highlighted the need to decontiminate the soil of Gruinard Island.
Yes, it is now safe to visit Anthrax Island. Although when we visited we only stayed for an hour! Why take a chance?
Mandy Elizabeth Rush
Dark Harvest were a militant group who claimed to have taken contaminated spores from the Island. They then started a campaign with the threat of the contaminated soil, to have Gruinard Island decontaminated.
Where is Anthrax Island, Scotland?
Known as Gruinard Island. This remote island is in the north west Highlands of Scotland, an area known as Wester Ross. Accessible only by travelling by boat or similar vessel (sea kayak).
What is the History of Anthrax Island?
It was during World War 2 that the British Government believed they needed to develop biological warfare, something which they believed the Nazi’s had already developed.
Gruinard Island was uninhabited at that time and by the standards of the Westminster government, it was remote. The government began experiments on the island, unbeknown to the locals.
Sheep were taken onto Gruinard Island and anthrax spores were released to study the effects of the spores on the tethered sheep.
Naturally the animals died. All the sheep tethered on the island were dead within a few days.
Although the local population had not been informed of these extreme experiments, the local population of crofters began to notice that their own cattle and sheep on the mainland had started to die from unexplained reasons.
The wind had carried the anthrax spores to the mainland and the surrounding crofts and crofters were exposed to anthrax.
Why did Anthrax Island go on fire?
In one word Muirburn.
Misguided and antiquated practice of burning heather and moor land to improve the grazing potential for grouse, sheep and deer!
Unfortunately the strict guidelines, the Muirburn code, is rarely followed. (In our first hand experience having lived in Crofting country for 12 years).
Why are Muirburns evil? “Releasing carbon and particulates in atmosphere, promoting water run off from hillsides and killing off wildlife to create a grouse monoculture”.
Why Muirburns are bad for the environment
- air pollution
- releast carbon into atmosphere
- promote water run off
- killing of wildlife and ground nesting birds
- damage peat (carbon capture)
- negative for biodiversity
Who owns Anthrax Island now?
The Gruinard Estate owns Gruinard Island. The Gruinard Estate owns 30,000 acres of land on the West Coast of Scotland. The estate bought the island back from the Ministry of Defence for £500.
Who owns Gruinard Estate? Who owns Scotland? Why do so few, own so much, of Scotland?
Why is Gruinard Island forbidden?
Gruinard island is no longer forbidden to visit. The signs which were distributed around the island were taken down after the island was decontaminated of anthrax.
One of the original signs from the Island can now be seen at Gairloch Museum.
How do you get to Anthrax Island?
- Check the weather and tides
- Park at Little Gruinard Bay
- Ensure you have a kayak, boat, canoe
- Head across the channel towards the spit on Gruinard Island
- Land on the spit (be careful and respectful of the terns which also nest on the spit)
- Don’t drink the water or dig in the soil…
What can you see on Gruinard Island today?
- Wildlife (Common Terns, Black Throated Diver, Shags, Sea eagle)
- Sea life (Sea Urchins, Starfish, Seals)
- Crofting life – the old bothy where the original families lived who farmed the island
- There is no longer any evidence of the horrors of the Anthrax Experiment on Gruinard Island, although we didn’t test the soil…so we don’t know for sure!
Can you visit Anthrax Island? Yes, we did and here are some photos…
