Invading grey squirrels face mass cull in drive to save native reds

THE battlelines have been drawn and the war is about to start to protect one of Scotland's most threatened native animals – the red squirrel.

Armed with traps and air rifles, a team of nine squirrel protection officers will set to work in the Borders, supported, they hope, by members of the public.

Their aim will be to kill every grey squirrel in the south of Scotland within two years, to stop the animals spreading further north.

Grey squirrels, introduced from the United States, carry a pox deadly to the smaller native reds.

Next month, a telephone hotline will be set up as part of the Red Squirrels in South Scotland initiative, for the public to call when they spot a grey. Squirrel protection officers will deliver traps to gardens, remove grey squirrels caught and shoot them.

Hundreds of traps will also be set out in forests across southern Scotland.

The scheme has the backing of some of the biggest landowners in the region, including the Duke of Buccleuch.

It mirrors a similar project in Northumberland, which has seen more than 18,000 grey squirrels killed in the past 18 months.

Richard Williamson, of Red Squirrels in South Scotland, said: "We have reached crisis point in the south with the spread of squirrel pox, and the squirrel conservation groups decided there was a need to roll up our sleeves and deal with the causes. We have got a huge bank of goodwill in south Scotland and we want to galvanise that."

He added: "The red squirrel is an iconic species for Scotland, which is now one of the last strongholds in the UK.

"There's almost a moral obligation on the Scots to manage that iconic species for the nation."

But Ross Minnet, campaigns director for Advocates for Animals, said he was absolutely against killing grey squirrels.

"We think it's morally wrong to kill one species of squirrel for even the potential benefit of another species of squirrel," he said.

He said he did not think killing greys would save reds but, instead, the possibility of putting them on islands where they would be safe from infection should be explored.

"Grey squirrels are here to stay," he said. "All that killing them is doing is attempting to postpone the inevitable."

He added that grey squirrels have been demonised. "There is this image that the greys are 6ft tall and have huge teeth and go around ravaging the red squirrels," he said.

IN NUMBERS

10
Number of red squirrels killed by squirrel pox in Scotland.

5 million
Estimated number of grey squirrels in the UK.

120,000
Likely UK red squirrel numbers.

64
Percentage of people in a European Squirrel Initiative survey who supported use of a non-lethal control method to remove all grey squirrels from the UK.

75
Percentage of the UK's red squirrels that live in Scotland.

15
Number of days it takes a red squirrel with pox to die.