TOUGH LOVE FOR TUFTY
How red squirrels are squeezed in to tiny cages ... then sent to new homes
IT may look like these red squirrels are being subjected to a form of medieval torture, but these tight tubular cages are for their own good.
The wire restrainers keep them safe – and spare their human handlers a nasty bite – as they are given a health check before being transported to new homes.
The medical is part of a project to reestablish the red squirrel, one of our bestloved and fastest declining mammals, to its former glory in the countryside, in this case in the Highlands. Reds were once a common sight but the introduction of disease-carrying American grey squirrels in the 1870s has driven them out of many areas.
Since then, the red population has plummeted from 3.5million to around 120,000. Today, their stronghold is in the Highlands, though they are exist in small pockets of England and Wales.
The project to reintroduce red squirrels to their old forest homes is being carried out by the Trees For Life charity. Because reds travel from tree to tree, they won’t cross large open spaces, so are unable to return to areas of isolated forest where they once lived without a helping hand.
Becky Priestly of the charity said: ‘The new populations are not only flourishing and breeding in their new homes, they are also starting to spread into new areas, with squirrels sighted as far as nine miles away.’
In the past two years 33 reds have been transported to Shieldaig in Wester Ross, 22 to the Coulin Estate near Kinlochewe, and 30 to Plockton. Before they are transported they are squeezed into the cages to be checked for disease, particularly the lethal squirrelpox virus spread mostly by greys.
Although the reds clearly don’t enjoy these encounters, they are unharmed. Only relatively few are taken from each site to ensure local populations are not affected.
The animals are carried to their new homes, specially designed nest boxes fixed to trees at the reintroduction sites and lined with hay. Food is provided for months while the squirrels get used to their new homes.