Rope bridges help squirrels cross busy roads
TWO bridges designed to help red squirrels cross busy roads without the risk of being hit by traffic have been built in southern France.
Professional climbers put up the rope bridges, which will allow the squirrels to scamper safely over fastmoving vehicles, in Saint Jean de Fos and Villeveyrac in the Hérault department.
Local authorities decided the walkways were needed after reports of numerous road deaths of red squirrels.
The locations were chosen after a survey revealed that they were among the most dangerous sites.
The Bird Protection League, which also monitors mammals, carried out the study.
It will track the squirrel population in the area over the next few years and observe their behaviour on the bridges. The relatively modest cost of £1,000 is unlikely to cause protests. A more elaborate £120,000 squirrel bridge in the Netherlands provoked an outcry last year after monitoring cameras revealed that only five squirrels had used it since it was built in 2012.
The French bridges are simpler, consisting of 12mm thick ropes strung between trees on each side of the road. Experts say similar bridges elsewhere have helped maintain squirrel populations.
British visitors to France are often surprised to see that red squirrels have not been pushed out by larger grey squirrels as they have in the UK, where they are an endangered species.
However, grey squirrels are feared to be entering France from Italy, where they were introduced as a novelty in the Sixties from the United States.
Red squirrels are not threatened with extinction in France but they are protected because populations are sparse.
Two years ago a French council spent £47,000 on tunnels for frogs and toads to cross a busy road to reach ponds where they breed.