Poll: Should We Cull Grey Squirrels? (25 Votes)

This is a single option poll. Please select the most appropriate option from the list.

"This has been on the cards for years now but has recently been given a high profile nudge by Prince Charles, who is advocating a cull. What do you think? Is it the only way to ensure our native red squirrel survives? Or is killing simply wrong, whether it is an invasive foreign species or not?"

1. There are still some red squirrels, the native species, left in Scotland but few south of here
2. Grey squirrels carry squirrel pox which has little effect on them but is lethal to Reds.
3. When Greys move into an area the Reds die.
4. Greys have been culled for decades now and are an official pest species
5. Despite this they are still spreading and the Reds are still losing the battle

I'm not sure if culling is the right way but if something isn't done soon there will be no red squirrels left. Living in an area where the red squirrels are still dominate it is only a question of time before the greys force the red out.

The greys have been attacking us from the south, north and east mostly finding their way up river valleys. I thought there was a program of capturing the greys and releasing them in the south of england where they are dominant.

Greys are now in Dumfries and Galloway and important that safe heavens are found for the reds. People around here are stopping feeding the reds as it can spread the squirrel pox across the community

quickfind:doonhamer > "I thought there was a program of capturing the greys and releasing them in the south of england where they are dominant."

I think if you catch them anywhere in the UK, you are prohibited from releasing them again under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, but you can ask for a license to do so. Natural England has a weird number of 450 being permitted each year, but licenses will not be given in areas where red squirrels populations remain:

Northumberland, Cumbria or Durham, the districts of Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, North and South Tyneside and Sunderland, the districts of Richmondshire and Craven (North Yorkshire), the districts of Sefton, Liverpool, Knowsley and St Helens (Merseyside), Halton and Warrington (Cheshire), Wigan (Greater Manchester), Lancaster and West Lancashire and islands in Poole Harbour or the Isle of Wight. In addition, red squirrels may still survive in Thetford Forest and possibly (though unlikely) in Hope Forest in the Peak District. Although they are probably effectively extinct in these areas, no licences should be issued to release grey squirrels within the northern half of the Peak District National Park, north of the A6, or within the Thetford Forest area, that is the districts of Breckland (Norfolk), Forest Heath (Suffolk) and St Edmundsbury (Suffolk)

Incidentally, the Red Squirrel Protection Partnership (RSPP) culled around 18000 grey squirrels in the 18 or so months up to August 2008 though most of these were in the north of England. Over 15000 more have been culled in the south of Scotland since 2000. Where do they find the time!?

I think they should try and forest a few islands and put the reds on them. This has worked in Poole Harbour, where the islands are some of the few places still to have reds in southern England.

I see the wee reds every time I go to my local forest with scooby, its a lovely sight!

Think the greys should be banished back to their homeland.

absolutely not....
they are here now, and nature will take its course....
might they not breed together? isnt britain multicultural?
is it possible to cure the greys of their pox?
a safe island for the red sounds good to me

Grey squirrels do not only threaten our native red squirrels, they are a nuisance, a pest, vermin. I don't like the thought of killing any animal but I think in this case, it is an absolute necessity.

I think you are right Leslie. It's a shame they are so cute and entertaining to watch - if Greys were ugly animals, no-one would would object to killing them.

Look at what we do to rats, and spiders...

Och, the poor wee squirrels. You're right, aboot the cute factor - but the poor wee rats carry diseases that are dangerous to humans so they're very unpopular.
What aboot the bunny wabbits? They're pesky immigrants too. And pheasants, fallow deer etc.

I didn't know they already culled greys, is it in the news because they are planning to cull vast numbers of them?

[incidentally, it said Gateshead and Newcastle are red squirrel areas - i see greys only, but maybe the reds are in "real" woods, not parks and gardens?]

Yep, they are extremely cute and clever animals, and I get loads of fun watching the grey squirrels around my garden. I live in the city and even there they are very common, but now I think it is time they were culled because they are getting as bad as the foxes here. We'll soon have the local hunt (there isn't one, but should be) trooping it's way up the road if nothing is done. Magpies are a blooming nuisance here too. At first squirrels and foxes are a novelty, but when you can hardly go a day without seeing several of them, it's time to call a halt.

quickfind:bonio200 > "Look at what we do to rats, and spiders..."

Hey! Whose killing spiders? Leave the poor wee spiders alone. They serve a useful purpose in killing flies. Before it was decorated recently, my bathroom was Spider Central. Grey squirrels serve absolutely no useful purpose, apart from the one in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh, which ocassonally give me a laugh when one runs up a woman's skirt (they have a habit of doing that). :D

When i'm out hunting for food, very late/very early i sometimes see a fox. Its always in an area of leafy gardens - so there must be enough rodents about to make the prowl worthwhile.
I like seeing wild animals in the town - when its the greenery that's attracted them - but if it was food rubbish that was attracting them i wouldnt like it. In other streets there'll be dropped takeaway food lying around so seeing wildlife there wouldnt be so good.

The part where I live is mostly nice and green with loads of trees and green areas. It's not in the city centre, but on the outskirts, but I get quite a lot of wildlife here. Foxes and squirells are very common. We see squirrels every day running across the road, or along the fences up into the trees, and there are a family of foxes diagonally opposite my house at the back of the scout hut, which is a nice green tree-ed area. There are also another family of them at the golf course, so we see them in our garden regularly or in the neighbouring gardens. We even get them running along the street barking at night in the wee hours of the morning. They make some racket. I like them, but I do think they are getting too common now, and whereas, we used to only see an odd one, nowadays, you're almost certainly guaranteed to see them on a daily basis, both squirells and foxes.

quickfind:bonio200 > "I think you are right Leslie. It's a shame they are so cute and entertaining to watch - if Greys were ugly animals, no-one would would object to killing them."

Aye, bunny syndrome. It's a pity rabbits are so cute as well. Look at what they did to Australia.

If I may enter a few words on behalf of the wee ones...

I have them in me yard, and feed them each morn. I find them delightfiul and me dogs chase them every opportunity they find.
I'm all for the relocation if it will help solve the problem. But
the whole sale slaughter just for the sake of cutting down the number...na, I can't go along with that.

It may seem crude but the country folk here still eat them a certain time of the year, and that does keep the numbers down as well as hep suppliment their food stores.

Thank you for setting me reply.

quickfind:truethomas > "Grey squirrels do not only threaten our native red squirrels, they are a nuisance, a pest, vermin."

Very true. Grey squirrels strip the bark off some deciduous trees and can cause substantial damage at certain times of year. At college we were lucky enough to be shown around Dalkeith Country Estate by the head gamekeeper; that was the first time I'd heard about the damage they cause to trees, and seeing it first hand was an eye-opener. Amazing how widespread it is.

Frankly I think it a tad hypocritical for Prince Charles to advocate a cull, given the parasitical and disfunctional nature
of the 'inroduced' Hertha Gotha - Saxe Coburg - Battenburgs.
But that aside, as Charlies pa might say 'Blast the Buggers'.

quickfind:daj59 > "Frankly I think it a tad hypocritical for Prince Charles to advocate a cull, given the parasitical and disfunctional nature
of the 'inroduced' Hertha Gotha - Saxe Coburg - Battenburgs."

Well said Davie! :)

By all means, cull away.

Here in Texas they are considered vermin in some counties and a game species in others. The vermin counties have no closed season or limit, and few restrictions how they may be taken. The game counties, mostly in the Eastern forests, have 2 open seasons a year. The limits vary from year to year depending on population surveys.

Nothing seems to slow the little buggers down, though. Not even a preference for squirrel & dumplings.

By the way, any ideas on how to rid the continent of English Sparrows and Starlings?

quickfind:daj59 > "Frankly I think it a tad hypocritical for Prince Charles to advocate a cull, given the parasitical and disfunctional nature
of the 'inroduced' Hertha Gotha - Saxe Coburg - Battenburgs."

Hmmmm thought it was Saxe-Coburg Goethe until 1917 when it was changed to Windsor, not that it matters much cos the previous line was William of Orange (Dutch/Belgian) anyway and Stewarts (Scottish) before that.

Dunno where Battenburg came from, though they do make nice cakes !

quickfind:jim_in_texas > "By the way, any ideas on how to rid the continent of English Sparrows and Starlings"

Repatriate them. Dwindling numbers here :( That's something I really miss, seeing huge flocks of Starlings in the evening. A rarity these days. I remember there being thousands of them gathering in the trees on Colmore Row in Birmingham when I was younger. Bird**** everywhere!

Still see massive flocks of starlings round here, but sparrows have been pretty uncommon recently. Gulls, crows and pigeons aplenty.

Where I live, we have lots of different types of sparrows and plenty of starlings. Not to mention gulls, squirells,foxes and the bain of my life, magpies. I hate magpies.