I’ve yet to see a red squirrel in the wild. Such is this animal’s continued population freefall that I may never see one. Full stop. Though once a common site down in the south of England, now it is mainly in the north and in Scotland that it survives.
It’s been a native of the British Isles for 10,000 years now, yet the naivety of the Victorian era threatens this creature with extinction.
In 1876, one Mr Brocklehurst, formally of Cheshire, in the north of England, now turning in his grave, decided it was a good idea to release a pair of North American grey squirrels into the wild. The rest, as they say, is history.
A fateful event. A century or so later, and with many more greys released into the UK in the meantime, we have the red squirrel now afforded the highest level of protection under UK law, the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
As the greys have spread northwards they have out-competed red squirrels for food and carry a virus (squirrel-pox) which is lethal to the native reds. Further outbreaks of this virus have been reported recently.
This is so often the case. Introduce a non-native species to an island and endemic species are the ones to suffer. Despite significant and on-going conservation projects, red squirrels are still very scarce throughout most of the UK. The loss and fragmentation of this creature’s woodland habitat hasn’t helped either.
A double-barrelled assault on one of the UK’s most charismatic creatures. Consider that whilst the greys are immune to squirrel pox, whole communities of reds can be wiped out in just two weeks, and really, it’s a wonder that we have any red squirrels left at all.
The grey squirrel is much larger. It consumes far more food and in so doing, reduces the amount of food available. If starvation is likely, the female reds can stop breeding altogether.
A recent survey commissioned by the European Squirrel Initiative (ESI) highlighted the support the general public has for controlling the growing grey squirrel population in Great Britain.
80% of those surveyed stated their support for control of the alien population of grey squirrels to preserve the native red from extinction and restore the threatened population.
Miles Barne of the ESI comments, “This survey shows there is a real demand from the public to see effective action that reverses the decimation of our native red squirrel population by the invasive grey.”
He continued: “The survey is also timely and puts in stark relief Natural England’s decision to grant licences allowing captured non-native greys back into the wild. As a government agency whose mission statement is to ‘conserve and enhance biodiversity, landscape and wildlife in rural, urban and coastal marine areas’, these releases set a dangerous precedent and cause unnecessary alarm.”
Who’d have thought? A government agency at odds with what the public really wants. The red squirrel. Yes, there’s hope, but we’re not out of the woods yet.
Further Information:
Sources:
Image courtesy of Flickr
1. There is no evidence that the red squirrel has evolved here continuously for 10,000 years.
2. The current forestry policy planting of native deciduous trees favour greys but social engineering organisations masquerading as conservationists continue to plant them. 90,000 trees native are to be planted by the Woodland Trust not far from a red squirrel area.
3. The 80% support for grey control aws manipulated by using leading questions.
4. Read “professor Acorn’s website for the true picture. http://www.grey-squirrel.org.uk
I’m no fan of the grey – but the plainly wrong story has to be corrected. The red was driven to extinction in Victorian times by British forestry managers. That’s why the grey was imported. It’s also true that UK red’s are in fact virtually all descended from Scandinavian reds imported because the UK red had been eradicated. Thus the current UK red isn’t British at all, we are protecting / promoting a European import. Both species can now be considered invasive. The grey has a different habitat to the red so management can take place simply by planting the right trees.
Unfortunately for the red bigots, the trees they like are the perfect home for greys. So the human intervention that changed one animals existence is doing it again.
Where do the “conservationists” stand in face of the facts rather than the emotion. No doubt they will twist and turn and justify, through their own self interest.
Here’s an interesting video on the same topic from the BBC. It seems that this piece hits the nail on the head, according to this video: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7348017.stm
You wierdos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
your so sad why would you spend time to talk about things like this, i am a 15 year olt female and i do not want to read about squirells its all about fun things likee beeer! suckout
pooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo