SQUIRREL WARS
Wildlife groups do battle over plan to trap and kill grey invader
A WAR has broken out between conservationists over the fate of a grey squirrel which has invaded a red squirrel stronghold.
The creature has been spotted in woodland near the Eight Acres Hotel on the outskirts of Elgin, Moray.
Experts from Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS) think it arrived in the hitherto grey squirrel-free county sometime before Christmas, possibly by stowing away in a lorry.
SSRS, a partnership led by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, has announced plans to catch and euthanise it. The group, which has set up a trap, hopes to carry out DNA tests to find out where the animal came from.
Grey squirrels, which originated in the US, carry a virus that is deadly to red squirrels and have driven out the smaller native animal from huge swathes of the UK.
The Moray grey has apparently been spotted ‘aggressively forcing’ a red squirrel from a nut feeder.
SSRS says it would be ‘disastrous’ for it to remain alive but another wildlife group, the Interactive Centre for Scientific Research about Squirrels (ICSRS) wants the grey, which it has nicknamed Elgin Sweetie, to be saved.
A spokesman said: ‘SSRS tries to justify killing this animal by claiming that grey squirrels are a threat to red squirrels. But it does not have to be killed and we have many wildlife rescue charities offering to rehome it instead.’
The group has arranged for the squirrel to be homed at the New Arc animal sanctuary near Ellon, Aberdeenshire, if caught unharmed, and says vets can perform DNA tests while it is still alive. The spokesman added: ‘We urge SSRS to find a humane solution to their grey squirrel dilemma.’
ICSRS believes human activities are far more harmful to red squirrels than the influx of greys.
But Steve Willis of SSRS said: ‘We first received reports of a grey squirrel in Elgin in November. We received photographs to confirm that it was a grey, and this is the first confirmed grey squirrel in Moray of which we are aware.
‘As it is more than 60 miles from the nearest known breeding population of grey squirrels, it remains a mystery how it got to Elgin.
‘The residents of Elgin have been extremely supportive and are quite rightly concerned for their resident red squirrels.’
He added: ‘A live-capture cage trap was set up in a garden. When the grey squirrel is caught it will be dispatched humanely.
‘To release a grey squirrel into the wild is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is also an offence to keep a grey squirrel in captivity in Scotland.’