Geese greatest threat to Western Isles crofters, says SCF 18 July 2013 Last updated at 01:40 Geese could end an entire way of life on the Western Isles, according to the Scottish Crofting Federation (SCF). The organisation said the birds posed the "greatest threat" to the future of crofting on the islands by damaging crops and grazing. SCF has raised an online petition with the Scottish Parliament urging the Scottish government to do more to control geese numbers. Crofters on the islands have previously called for culls of greylag geese. Ena MacDonald, an SCF representative, said there were an estimated 10,000 geese in the Uists. She said: "This is the greatest threat to crofting in the islands and could see the end of this way of life. The government make a thing of saying they support crofting and want to help young crofters to stay here, but then they do nothing about the fact that the geese are forcing crofting out. We just cannot compete against the geese anymore. Scare geese NFU Scotland has previously said methods of controlling geese to protect grazing land were not "fit for purpose." The farming organisation said numbers of greylag had increased to levels that could no longer be managed by current schemes. Geese numbers on the Western Isles have been a long-running issue for crofters. Two years ago, their calls for some geese to be shot were supported by the islands' MSP. Under the Uist Goose Management Scheme, fireworks, kites and special fencing have been provided to frighten geese away from pastures and arable crops. People have also been employed to scare geese from August through to October.