Get those greys trapped and eaten, fight back against the credit crunch, they taste lovely roasted or slow cooked.

Scapegoating Grey Squirrels



1. Native Species?

One of the key criteria for determining if a species is “native” by conservationists is that it should have evolved with all other species within its own ecosystem and not have been introduced or assisted by man to arrive at what is regarded as its natural location. In short, it should have got to where it is by its own efforts and evolved naturally.

However, the word “species” is only a descriptive term within an arbitrary classification system, so it is ridiculous for conservationists to latch the adjective “native” onto a classification, when in the real world it should relate to individual animals that have been born and bred in a location to which their native standing rightfully applies.

If it is important to conservationists that a species evolves naturally in Britain to earn its “native species” status, then it should be equally important that the same species evolving in a different natural environment abroad, should not be regarded as “native” to this country.

An example of this is the red squirrel, which has a range stretching from Northern Europe to China. It takes an enormous stretch of one’s imagination to regard red squirrels anywhere from here to China, as being native to one particular location. These animals have evolved within a wide range of climatic and environmental conditions and associated with different flora and fauna encountered across the part of the range they inhabit. For conservationists to argue that these influences are not important is to argue against their own concept of “native species”.

Ancestors of the current population of red squirrels in the UK have been largely introduced (reintroduced?) from various parts of Europe, following their virtual extermination by those with forestry interests who regarded them as “tree rats” – a term now being used, just as unfairly, to demonise grey squirrels in the eyes of the general public.

Both populations of squirrels, red and grey, have been introduced to this country and there is no evidence that even the earlier red squirrels evolved here continuously from the time of the land bridge to Europe around 10,000 years ago.

All squirrels born in this country are “native” by birth, just as we are, irrespective of colour, background or success. To expect racial tolerance within own population but condemn wildlife on the basis of its ancestral background is extremely hypocritical.


2. Habitat

If conservationists want to assist the reds to survive, they should be improving their habitat by planting trees in which they thrive, instead of the political fad of wallpapering the countryside with native broadleaves that favours the greys' expansion and the reds’ demise. The need to plant trees that favour red squirrels and act as a barrier to greys is well known to the Forestry Commission.


3. Squirrel-pox Virus (SQPV)

There is no evidence that greys are transmitting squirrel-pox virus (SQPV) to reds as the presence of antibodies in greys merely means they have been in contact with the disease, most probably by associating with reds or possibly other rodents. Research by McInnes et al acknowledges “the possibility that the virus is endemic to the UK and that other rodent species inhabiting the same woodland environment could be harboring the virus”.

The Forestry Commission have admitted under a Freedom of information request that “no routine testing of live red squirrels is undertaken” and they “are not aware of any scientific evidence one way or another as to whether or not there is a resistant population of reds out there”. So it is quite wrong to say red squirrels have no immunity to the disease, when the truth is nobody knows. Indeed, the population could well have been wiped out long ago if there were not some form of resistance present.

Early in the last century, out of forty-four districts in England where red squirrels had the disease only four districts had grey squirrels present. This suggests that SQPV has been within the red squirrel population for around a century at least and that grey squirrels are victims of a campaign of unfair vilification. Some people even have the audacity to claim that SQPV somehow arrived around the time it was discovered in 1983 but that is about as ridiculous as claiming America didn’t exist before it was “discovered” by Leif Ericson – centuries before Christopher Columbus was born.


4. Immunocontracepti
on

Immunocontraception was deemed immoral in the 1930s in mainland Europe, when it was proposed against sectors of the human population. It is equally immoral to use it against wildlife, as it could affect non-target species and introduce a significant risk of unintended consequences. Unscrupulous conservationists and others could also use it as a weapon of destruction of any species in an attempt to control nature. How long before this dangerous technology, if perfected, could be used against the human population? It is not a route that should be considered by right thinking people.


5. Culling of Grey Squirrels

Culling doesn’t work except in closed environments such as islands. According to research it would cost £200,000 per annum to control grey squirrels in Northumberland’s Redesdale Forest alone. - Rushton et al (2002) – and would require to be repeated endlessly as greys will quickly re-colonised voids, sometimes within a few weeks. Culling greys in Scotland will be an expensive and futile exercise requiring to be continued for evermore.

“Squirrel culling is not a new phenomenon. Some 60 years ago the Ministry of Agriculture started to encourage people to kill squirrels, offering—I remember it only too clearly—a shilling a tail. I became a very wealthy young man at that time, as we had a lot of grey squirrels in the area and I did not need a lot of encouragement to do something about them. When the government at that time had paid out some £250,000, they decided that that was enough. There was no perceivable difference to the squirrel population.” Lord Plumb, March 2006



6. Humane dispatch

What is Humane? “Humane” and “humane as possible” are words frequently used by conservationists to describe the killing of wildlife. So what exactly do these words mean or are they merely euphemistic references to brutality?

Conservationists are currently engaged in what they call the “humane dispatch” of grey squirrels by clubbing them over the head with a blunt instrument, yet if the same happened to one of our own population it would be described as a brutal murder.

Putting aside the argument of whether a human life is of greater value than that of a squirrel, it is logical to say that if the method of dispatch is exactly the same there is no excuse for describing it differently.

Perhaps the idea of the ”brutal dispatch“ of wildlife and “humane murder” of humans is too much for the human animal to contemplate.


7. Act of violence

Make no mistake, clubbing a grey squirrel over the head is an act of violence and is being promoted nation-wide by government and red squirrel groups. Scientific evidence shows that those who have little regard for the welfare of animals are likely to have a similar attitude to their fellow human beings. Abuse breeds abuse and in our ever-increasing violent society, what example is it to younger generations that violence and killing is an acceptable solution to a perceived problem of not being native to this country?

In reality, rather than in the arbitrary world of conservation, all squirrels born in this country are as “native” by birth as we are, irrespective of our colour, background or success. To expect tolerance within our own population but condemn these animals on the basis of their ancestral background is extremely hypocritical and perhaps only one step removed from racism.


It should also be appreciated that squirrels, of any colour, are not “ours”. They are independent parallel mammalian populations that inhabit this planet the same as we do and should be afforded the same respect and consideration to live out their lives that we expect for ourselves.



The Grey Squirrel
Native by birth – Condemned by origin

Please read the website
www.grey-squirrel.or
g.uk