VISITING an elderly friend in hospital recently, I had my attention drawn to a squirrel (needless to say, a grey squirrel) running up a tree outside the ward window.

This led me to offer the opinion that grey squirrels are an alien pest and it wouldn’t be a bad thing if the American practice of shooting or trapping them for the pot were to catch on here. Apparently, the meat is tasty – a bit like rabbit – and very nutritious.

I had begun to describe a possible method of culinary preparation when another patient’s visitor, who had apparently been listening in, gave a very audible snort of disgust. So I desisted from that line of conversation.

When you think of it though, conventional livestock farming is in many ways wasteful and environmentally stressful. We need to be looking at other possible sources of animal protein that would be far more cost-effective, and, yes, the grey squirrel is one of them.

Tony Kelly, Crook, Co Durham.