Culling fails to stop march of grey squirrels

Sep 26 2009 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

Thousands of culled grey squirrels later, the invader’s advance into remaining red squirrel territory is still relentless. Environment Editor Tony Henderson reports on a study into why this is so.

CHILLING killing figures emerge from a new study of the effectiveness of measures in the North of England to halt the spread of the grey squirrel and the decline of the native red.

Between February 2007 and September last year, more than 20,000 greys were killed by the Red Squirrel Protection Partnership, chaired by Lord Redesdale.

But the study says that sightings of greys in the North East have increased rather than decreased, suggesting that the culling of greys has not stopped their advance in what is the final English stronghold of the red squirrel.

Grey distribution maps show that reported sightings cover most of Northumberland and Cumbria, with high and consistent concentrations in south Northumberland and Tyne and Wear.

The purpose of the study is to help lead future conservation work to protect red squirrels in the North.

It evaluates the recent work of various organisations involved in red squirrel conservation.

The study was carried out by the Central Science Laboratory and involved the UK’s leading squirrel experts. It was funded by Natural England, the Forestry Commission, Save Our Squirrels (SOS) and the European Squirrel Initiative and was overseen by a group that included all the funders plus Northern Red Squirrels, the Red Squirrel Protection Partnership (RSPP) and Northumberland Wildlife Trust.

Killing the imported greys in an effort to control their numbers is nothing new and the recent North East culling mirrors earlier national efforts.

A conference was organised in 1944 by the Ministry of Agriculture to raise awareness on the grey squirrel menace.

Free cartridges were given to registered clubs and by 1947 450 grey squirrel shooting clubs had been accredited with killing 100,000 of the animals.

By 1952 this scheme included 7,000 clubs. Yet neither this programme nor a bounty scheme introduced in 1953 with 361,636 grey squirrels killed by March 1954 failed to either reduce the overall population of greys or to halt their continued range expansion.