No imperative to conserve red squirrels
From: Tracy Battensby, Leasmires Avenue, Easingwold.
I REFER to your article ‘Call for increased action on grey squirrel management after lockdown’ (The Yorkshire Post, May 27).
My first thought upon reading it was “here we go again”. It is frankly tiring to see the same old myths and misplaced red squirrel sentimentality being peddled by so-called conservationists to justify their cruel and unnecessary activities.
Grey squirrels do not destroy trees. On the contrary, they are unrivalled as natural seed dispensers and forest regenerators. It is because of them that we have most of our trees, flowers, fruit and fungi. Unfortunately our (human) forest custodians can always be relied upon to fell and lay waste our wooded areas with impunity.
Your correspondent mentions grey squirrel control. Are your readers aware that current methods of “control” involve extreme cruelty whereby the animal is put into a sack and bludgeoned to death? Neither quick nor humane. As for the red squirrel itself, what we have in the UK is in fact a Scandinavian subspecies, so to call these animals native is misleading at best.
The red squirrel was in decline long before the grey squirrel was introduced (over 150 years ago, so hardly an “alien” any longer). And why was the red squirrel in decline? Our ancestors considered them pests because they “damaged trees”. Sound familiar?
Red squirrels are not endangered, their conservation status being of least concern. Their natural habitat of coniferous forest is common in continental
Europe. Britain simply does not have this habitat any more. There is no conservation imperative to artificially maintain red squirrel populations in unsuitable habitats whilst attempting to justify grey squirrel eradication. Both perform the same ecological function, and grey squirrels are best suited to the habitat we provide.
Red squirrel numbers do not increase significantly in spite of constant grey squirrel control. May I respectfully suggest these conservation groups concentrate their efforts on, say, stopping illegal hunting and badger baiting, instead of constantly spreading their irrational dislike and prejudice of the grey squirrel for their own ends.