Many of you will have seen or heard so much in the way of press releases over the last six months or so regarding a contraceptive for grey squirrels, a vaccine to save red squirrels from squirrel pox virus disease and also the Pine Marten theory of creating a ‘landscape of fear’ for the greys.
As it stands currently; a workable contraceptive formula is at least a decade away and even if this comes to fruition, it is of no use to our group as cannot be used in areas where there are red squirrels; there is no funding available to develop the prototype of the squirrel pox vaccine any further; and there is no statistically significant evidence relating to the Pine Marten theory.
The only way to save the much loved red squirrels in our area is through human intervention using the successful methods that we deploy. Our standardised recording data provides very clear, significant evidence that using a humane, combination methodology of trapping and shooting is the most effective means of clearing areas of the non-native grey squirrels to allow our iconic and genetically unique red squirrels to survive for future generations to enjoy. It is this dedicated ‘boots on the ground front line work’ that is making the biggest impact in red squirrel conservation. Read more>>
