Bedford Animal Action

In Defence of the Grey Squirrel

by The Ark Wildlife Hospital, Milton Keynes

We would like to put forward a positive defence for the Grey Squirrel and to promote an alternative to “Culling”.  The grey squirrel is constantly given bad press for the demise of the red squirrel, the destruction of trees and the decline of songbirds; why, after living in this country for over 100 years, is it still classed as an alien?  The grey squirrel is readily called vermin where the red squirrel is not.

HISTORY AND THE RED SQUIRREL

In recorded history there have been dramatic fluctuations of the red squirrel population in the British Isles.  Although commonly recorded from the 12th century onwards the red squirrel apparently became extinct in Scotland during the 18th century after a protracted decline that had begun in the 16th century; the most likely reason for this was the decline of suitable habitat.  Agricultural development and war had put huge demands on timber resources.  This is also true of areas in Britain with the New Forest supplying huge amounts of timber in the 16th century for the demands of the Navy; hence in 1611 over 1,800 oaks were supplied.  In Scotland replanting begun at the start of the 19th century and the red squirrel recovered quite quickly.  There were also red squirrels brought into Scotland from England.

Jessica Holm states “In England, there was similar de-forestation, but the red squirrel DID NOT SEEM TO SUFFER so badly.  At the beginning of the 19th century, everybody started to plant trees, especially the fast-growing conifers, to replace the broad-leafed woodlands that had been felled.  Red squirrels recovered in these new woodlands, and by the beginning of the 20th century, they had reached peak numbers.  In 1889, 2,281 RED SQUIRRELS were SHOT by the commissioners of the NEW FOREST, AS TIMBER PESTS, and in 1903, the HIGHLAND SQUIRREL CLUB was formed, proudly announcing the DESTRUCTION OF 82,000 RED SQUIRRELS in the first 30 years of its existence.”

“In Ireland, the first records of red squirrels were of specimens sadly stripped of their skins in about 1243, and in Wales similar hunting records exist from the 13th century.  It is difficult to know if this means that there were squirrels living in the Welsh and Irish woodlands or if their skins were simply imported from other countries.  However, it would appear that in the 15th century, red squirrels disappeared completely from Irish soil, and were not reintroduced again until the early 19th century.

“It seems that INDUSTRY (fuel for factories), AGRICULTURE and WAR made enormous demands on the timber resources of the countryside, and forest destruction took place on quite a dramatic scale. In Wales there is a similar story.”  Red squirrel numbers declined rapidly during the acute timber shortage of the 15th and 16th centuries, and during the 18th century the Scottish red squirrels were all but extinct.  They were not the only animal to suffer as a result of MAN’S need for timber, for it was during this period that the splendid forest-dwelling CAPERCAILLE became extinct in Britain.” (1)

At the beginning of the 20th century the red squirrel was prolific in the United Kingdom and was regularly being destroyed in vast numbers as “FORESTRY PESTS”, this brought about another period of decline.  Numbers seem to be holding their own in Scotland, Ireland and Wales but in Britain the decline was felt more strongly.  Habitat decline has played an important role in this but there was also a secondary problem, PARAPOXVIRUS which had severely affected red squirrel populations long before the introduction of the grey.  This disease has been recorded in reaching epidemic proportions in areas of red squirrel decline.  The disease has similar symptoms as Myxomatosis.  The only difference this time is whereas previously there was only one tree dwelling rodent and any decline could be remedied in time, there was now another tree dwelling rodent sitting in the wings waiting to fill the spaces.

In 1876, a Mr Brocklehurst set the scene for today’s British squirrel story when he released a pair of North American Grey Squirrels into Henbury Park in Cheshire and other successful introductions continued for the next fifty years.  Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire 1889 and Regents Park in London 1904 were also notable introductions.  There was also a pair given as a wedding present at Castle Forbes in Ireland in 1903.

While the red squirrel preferred the evergreen forests for foraging and feeding the grey quickly adapted to the oak woodlands of the British Isles and soon became well established.  Hence they were not directly responsible for the decline of the red squirrel.  The numbers of reds were in considerable decline before the introduction of the greys with their quick adaptation to their new environment.  The greys do not attack and kill the reds often enough for this to constitute a significant problem nor did they bring the Parapoxvirus into Britain but they seem to have a higher immunity to the disease.  Of the 44 districts of Norfolk where the reds were recorded as declining due to the disease only 4 actually had grey squirrels living there.  Basically the greys took up residence in the areas vacated by the reds and succeeded.

The red squirrel has become very fragmented in the British Isles since the 1940s with vast areas containing no reds, the North of England and Scotland having highest populations and some areas of Southern England having sporadic numbers.  In Ireland the reds are still relatively abundant even to the extent that they are a pest to the forestry commission there.

As the majority of central and southern England are primarily deciduous woodlands the grey will naturally succeed as they are able to evolve and adapt to their surroundings whereas the red is more suited to the non-native planted conifer and cannot adapt as easily, hence resulting in the survival of the fittest.

BARK STRIPPING

Baroness Sharples:  “My Lords, does the noble Lord agree that grey squirrels can decimate oak trees?  I planted some 300 oaks and virtually half of them have been destroyed.  We are allowed to use only very few of the poisons now available to try to deal with this problem.”  (3)

Lord Rooker:  “My Lords, I am not knocking the grey squirrel, because it is very popular with people in urban areas.  When the grey squirrel turns up in their gardens, they like it, so we have to be careful what we say about them.  There are some very good public relations out there.  But the grey squirrels are not as nice to look at as the red ones - I have only seen one red squirrel in my whole life.  The fact is that the grey squirrels cause incredible damage to forest trees.  There are means to deal with them, as the Forestry Commission does.  Equally, as people know when they plant bulbs, if they are not careful the grey squirrel will dig them up within a few hours.  While all of this is annoying, we have no plan - I shall repeat this because I do not want any letters - we have no plan to eradicate the grey squirrels.”  (3)

Muntjac deer, introduced into Britain in the early 20th century by Woburn Park, Bedfordshire, escaped soon after into the countryside.  The numbers have increased by 20% in the last few years, to about 150,000 animals.  Wildlife experts warn that the mammals have a ferocious appetite and can strip trees of bark and leaves, destroying the nesting sites of popular birds and affecting songbirds such as the nightingale which rely on the undergrowth for food.  Muntjac deer are moving north and recent sightings put them at Tyne and Wear.

The truly native red deer and roe deer;  the long established fallow deer and the smallest of them all the muntjac are the four species of deer that live in Suffolk.  (As the muntjac was introduced after the grey squirrel to this country why has it been accepted and allowed to be called native?  The muntjac was introduced here from China.)  All of these deer eat the bark of trees often only on one side of the tree.

Other animals/birds that damage the bark of trees include termites, bark beetles, wood borers, voles, woodpeckers and red squirrels.

So is the grey squirrel such a villain or is it being used as a convenient scapegoat?  Is it just a way to justify the killing of the grey by giving it such a bad press, so when mass “culling” is introduced the general public accept it without question?

DECLINE OF THE SONGBIRDS

RED SQUIRREL  Highly opportunist feeders with a great variety of food items taken.  The most important items being: Tree seeds, SHOOTS, buds, flowers, BARK, cones, hips, acorns, garden bulbs, many fungi, EGGS, YOUNG BIRDS, insects

GREY SQUIRRELS   Highly opportunist feeders with a great variety of food items taken.  The most important items being: Tree seeds, SHOOTS, buds, flowers, BARK, cones, hips, acorns, garden bulbs, many fungi, EGGS, YOUNG BIRDS, insects

So do squirrels eat baby birds?

There is no doubt that squirrels, RED and GREY, take nestlings from nests and from bird boxes, they are simply opportunists and varying their diet.   However, it is unlikely that squirrels pose a serious threat to nesting songbirds.”  (1)

SONGBIRDS:

Do not be deceived into believing that songbirds are a singular breed of British birds.  Songbird, as described in Encarta is “A bird having a melodious song or call.”

Passerine is the common name for any of the perching birds belonging to the largest avian order which includes more than 5700 highly diverse species and well over half of all living birds.  They are mostly songbirds with highly developed syrinxes, or vocal organs.  Finches, wrens, swallows, nightingales, crows, warblers, blackbirds, robins, blue tits and thrushes are to name but a few.

“The largest suborder of the passerines is the songbird, or oscines, comprising of 4500 species with the thrush whose complexly muscled syrinxes can imitate a great range of notes and rhythms.  Passerines of the three smaller suborders have less complex syrinxes and are called suboscines.

According to unreleased figures from a survey from The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) the nightingale is declining across Southern Britain and the Midlands.  The survey was the largest of its kind - more than 1,000 volunteers took part - and its early indications suggest that the bird’s numbers have fallen from around 20,000 breeding pairs in the 1950s to around 4,000 pairs today.  This decline has also become evident across the board of songbirds.  The RSPB along with the BTO believes that songbird numbers have fallen by about 30,000,000 in the last 25 years.  Skylarks have believed to have declined by about ¾, that is by about 4,600,000.  4,100,000 blackbirds have been lost, lapwing numbers have halved, the corn bunting has declined by 75%, and song thrushes are also believed to halved in numbers.  The decline of Linnets, yellowhammers, mistle thrush, read bunting, willow tit, meadow pipit and the dunnock are, again, to name but a few.  (2)

What could be the reason for the decline?

The changing face of the countryside, agricultural practices and shopping habits contribute to the decline of these birds.  The spread of towns, cities and suburbs are drastically reducing the rural habitats for many birds.  Vast numbers of small copses have disappeared hence the reduction in green woodpeckers.  A Dutch survey found that songbirds such as the wood warbler and golden oriole simply could not hear the song of a mate due to noise pollution.  Agriculture has intensified dramatically due to the need for cheaper food, and by European Union subsidies as part of the Common Agricultural policy.  This has lead to a more intensive use of pesticides which from the fifties through to the seventies is thought to have had a particularly damaging effect on a number of species.  (2)

Changes in population of farmland (songbirds?) in rural Britain 1970-1995

Birds in decline              Birds on the increase

Tree Sparrow -89%      Mallard +36%
Grey Partridge -82%    Cuckoo +38%
Turtle Dove -77%          Chaffinch +40%
Bullfinch -76%                Great Tit +42%
Song Thrush -73%         Pheasant +57%
Lapwing -67%                 Coal Tit +82%
Reed Bunting -61%        Magpie +138%
Skylark -58%                  Carrion Crow +151%
Linnet -52%                    Wood Pigeon +154%
Swallow -43%                  Blackcap +170%
Blackbird -42%               Jackdaw +195%
Mistle Thrush -39%       Stock Dove +246%
Moorhen -37%                Great Spotted Woodpecker +303%
Sedge Warbler -35%
Starling -235

Source:  Campbell L H & Cooke AS (eds) 1997.  The Indirect Effects of Pesticides on Birds.  Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough.

And what of cats?

In January 2001, it was claimed that domestic cats kill about 275 million other animals in Britain each year.  In the survey of 964 cats 3,383 birds were taken, it was not reported if the birds were adults, fledglings, nestlings or had been thrown out of the nest.

From a cat population of over 7.5 million for a survey of 964 cats over 5 months.

Bird                                                              Amount believed to have been taken/killed

House Sparrows (small brown birds)    961
Unknown birds                                  Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 503
Blue Tits                                                     344
Blackbirds                                                  316
Starlings                                Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 288
Mistle/Song Thrush                                 145
Robins                                                         142
Pigeons                                 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 114
Wrens                                  Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 105
Greenfinches                                               82
Chaffinches                               Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  70
Great Tits                                                    52
Dunnocks                                                     34
Collard Doves                                  Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  33

This does not take into account rats, mice, reptiles, amphibians, fish etc that cats are believed to take.  A report from the Cat Protection League believes that there are 10 million cats in Britain and that they are responsible for killing 55 million songbirds each year.

Sparrowhawks

According to Dr Ian Newton in his book The Sparrowhawk, the UK has a population of 100,000 sparrowhawks.  They will slaughter in excess of 100 million songbirds in a year.  This is 1,000 “kills” per hawk per year.

Trichomoniasis

Daily Mail 9 September 2007 – “Deadly new virus is silencing songbirds” - songbirds are being ravaged by a highly contagious disease spread via bird baths and tables.  RSPB have had 17 times more reports of cases of avian TRICHOMONIASIS.  The virus has been spotted in chaffinches, goldfinches, bullfinches, house sparrows, blackbirds, yellowhammers and siskins.  There are other diseases that are transferred by close contact, food and water such as salmonella, aspergillosis and avian pox.

Pine Marten

The Pine Marten could be the key to red squirrels defence.  This mammal is on the increase in Scotland - after being hunted to almost extinction by man – its habitat is now being protected by man.  The grey squirrel has found to be on the decline where its neighbour is the pine marten and both tend to feed on the ground.  Pine martens also eat small birds!

Windows and songbirds

It has been difficult find any data for Britain on the number of songbirds killed by windows.  In North America it is estimated that 10 songbirds are killed annually for every building.  In 1992 Cornel Laboratory of Ornithology study into mortality, 51% of deaths resulted in birds flying into windows.

There are other predatory birds and animals that will eat songbirds in any stages of their life many, though, are opportunist eaters: magpies, buzzards, stoats, hedgehogs, carrion crow, jackdaw, jay, tawny owl and MAN.

MAN I

Ambelopoulia is a word only spoken furtively in the tavernas of Cyprus these days.  It is the name of a dish that will claim the lives of 1.2 million migrating songbirds this autumn in a slaughter of rare cruelty.  The illegal dish consists of whole pickled robins and another small sized warbler called the black cap.  In the three years up to 2005, it is estimated that 20 million birds heading south from Britain and other countries to winter in Africa, have been saved by a British-funded campaign to end trapping on Cyprus.

MAN II

Thousands of wild songbirds are being trapped in the British countryside and sold on in Europe, according to the latest RSPCA campaign.  Many of the birds are exported to Malta and sold in pet shops and street markets. Trappers target mainly finches, such as the common greenfinch and the goldfinch, but also rare birds like the linnet and the endangered bullfinch.  The illegal trade in birds is said to be as profitable as drug smuggling and trappers use a variety of methods to catch birds, including cage traps, nets and bird lime - a glue like substance.

It is perfectly legal to keep, breed and sell most British songbirds provided they have been bred in captivity and ringed.  But there is a European-wide demand for songbirds that cannot be met by those bred legally in captivity.  So trappers and dealers take wild birds and force rings on their legs to disguise them as captive bred.

So, once again, is the grey squirrel such a villain or is it being used as a convenient scapegoat?  Is it just a way to justify the killing of the grey by giving it such a bad press so when mass “culling” is introduced the general public accept it without question?  Most meat eating animals and birds will take songbirds, either eggs or nestlings or fledglings or adults.

TO KILL OR NOT TO KILL?

• MAN destroys red squirrels habitat - grey squirrel gets the blame.
• MAN introduces grey squirrel to Britain – grey squirrel is to blame.
• MAN classes grey squirrel as vermin and red squirrel as rodent.
• Many species eat and destroy the bark of trees including red squirrel - grey squirrel gets the blame.
• Man and various species, including red squirrel, destroy the habitat of, and eat songbirds – grey squirrel gets the blame.
• Red squirrel had the parapoxvirus before the introduction of the grey - the grey squirrel builds up immunity to the disease but is blamed for passing it to the red squirrel.
• Except for their habitat, grey squirrels and red squirrels have similar lifestyles - the grey is vermin and the red is a rodent.

The definition of cull according to Encarta –

To pick out from others; select.
To gather, collect.

From Latin colligere, collect.

So we collect all the spare squirrels and put them where?  This is a bit fanciful.  Grey squirrels are being killed because of the listed statements above.  It is not only grey squirrels that cause damage; the list can go on for pages so we will name the popular ones; kangaroos, pigeons, most species of deer, foxes, hares, rabbits, rats and it is also emerging that many zoo animals have high populations.  The latest theory to control numbers is a type of contraception for nearly all animals which has to be a far better method than killing; the word murder cannot be used as only one human can murder another human.

So the world it seems has too many animals, wanted and unwanted.  We must look at the real problem why does man feel the need to CULL so many animals?

For most of human history, up to around 10,000 years (+ -) ago, the population remained around 8–10 million since then it has increased to reach its present level of over 6.2 billion.  Advances in agricultural practices, medicine and sanitation are among the reasons for this increase.

Year       Millions*

1750      790
1800      980
1850      1.260
1900      1,650
1950      2,555
2000     6,080

So where do we live, grow crops, develop industry and technology?  What about the fresh water supplies?  Who or what has to make room for Man?

There are places in SE Asia where more than 700 species of trees coexist in patches of tropical forest as small as 25 acres.  There are also places in the same area where every minute of every day a piece of the forest equivalent to six football pitches disappears.  Illegal logging of tropical forests is rampant, often to supply countries like the USA, China and Japan, countries fuelled by economic growth and hungry for cheap lumber.

Australia has 57 million kangaroos, when there is a water shortage they go into the cities.  In Canberra, 2004, 600 car accidents were caused by kangaroos.  A decision was made to kill 800 kangaroos but this caused so much trouble with animal rights activists that it caused the authorities to look for alternatives.

The local government that ministers Canberra has now announced a scientific trial of contraceptives, which will be added to the grass in low-lying areas where the animals graze.  John Roger, professor at the University of Newcastle’s Tom Farrell Institute for the Environment, is heading a three year programme.  The idea is to put the pills containing the contraceptive proteins into feeders and allow the animals to come and get them.

Why not allow wildlife hospitals, sanctuaries and vets etc to take in grey squirrels when sick, orphaned or injured then treat them but also get them sterilised and released back into the wild?  In time the numbers will decrease but this has to be done with cooperation from all parties.

What of the cost?

Lord Mackie of Benshie:  My Lords, there is no question but that the grey squirrel does a lot of harm, and I cannot agree with my Front Bench about contraception.  I think a more practical way of controlling grey squirrels, one which does work, is to pay a substantial sum for every squirrel TAIL handed in.

Lord Rooker:  My Lords, I have to say that this is a very old fashioned approach.  It did not work, it is not cost effective or value for money, and as a policy it was abandoned in 1958.  (3)

So, if they are willing to “pay a substantial sum for every tail” then surely this “substantial sum” can go towards a more humane way of dealing with the greys.

WHAT IS THE GREY SQUIRREL, VERMIN, RODENT OR ALIEN?

Vermin:  various animals or insects, such as rats or cockroaches, that are destructive, annoying, or injurious to health.
[From Latin vermis, worm.]

Rodent:  any mammal characterised by a pair of broad, sharp-edged, chisel-like incisor teeth that are firmly inserted in both jaws and are used for gnawing vegetation.  The front service of each incisor tooth is composed of enamel, and the hind service is soft dentine, which wears away during the process of gnawing so that the teeth are constantly kept sharp.  Most rodents are also characterised by well-developed ears.

Most children regard the grey squirrel as a little animal that they see in parks, green areas and back gardens.  They like to put out food for them and find them highly amusing to watch, jumping from tree to tree.  It has been established that the grey squirrel came from America over 100 years ago so why has it not been adopted as indigenous?  Is it because of the alleged demise of the red?

Red and greys do live together with no more trouble than greys living with greys and reds living with reds.  They have been recorded sharing the same dreys, sleeping there at different times.  They give each other their fleas.  Red squirrels have been recently reintroduced to Regent’s Park, one of the first places to bring the greys to this country, with special feeders that will only allow the lighter red squirrel to take food (not the greys).  Supplementary feeding has been found NOT to make very much difference to the red squirrel.  They did not gain any extra weight or have larger litter sizes though they were born earlier in the year.  They moved about just as much but were still affected by bad weather and natural food shortages.  So it would seem that supplementary feeding was not enough.  (1)

The reintroduction of a species has to follow certain guidelines.

• Ensure that the reintroduced species “niche” has not been filled with another species during its absence.
• The welfare of the red squirrels – these are protected by law. It is illegal to disturb them, let alone catch them and move them.  You would need a licence.

So every single grey squirrel would have to be removed before the reintroduction of the red.  This is virtually impossible and impractical.  The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recommends that one should be quite sure that the removal of individuals does no harm to the source population.

In the case of the Regent’s Park reintroduction, the red squirrels involved were removed from a private estate in Fife WHERE THEY HAD BEEN CAUSING DAMAGE TO TREES!!  IF THEY HAD NOT BEEN TAKEN TO LONDON THEY WOULD HAVE MOST PROBABLY BEEN KILLED.  (1)

CONCLUSION

Maybe Britain is not the best place in the world for the red squirrel to inhabit.  This is the edge of their natural range which is Europe; the fragmented, modified nature of most modern woodlands and countryside of Britain is unsuitable for the red squirrel.  Perhaps they originally became trapped here when the land bridge with Europe disappeared 7-10,000 years ago; or they were introduced here and we may be doing the wrong thing by trying to reintroduce them.  Are we 100% sure that we are not causing them future suffering?

Should we look to Darwinism or is the red squirrel about to become extinct due to MAN’S earlier interference; is it the survival of the fittest?  The grey squirrel is still being looked upon as vermin, but MAN gives out the propaganda that it is only the grey squirrel that causes destruction so the culling can be justified.  We believe the public are being brainwashed to accept that the grey squirrel is a vicious, damaging, killing animal in order to allow the large scale slaughter to go on without opposition; it is a fact that the main proponents of squirrel culls are those with forestry interests, supporters of fieldsports and gamekeepers.

If, after reading this paper, you want to help stop the slaughter of these small, inquisitive garden visitors that children love to sit and watch, please use the link below to sign the e-petition at 10 Downing Street.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Grey-Squirrels/

If you would like to contact us please email (use underscore between words):

the_ark_wildlife_hopsital@hotmail.com

Bibliography

Squirrels - Jessica Holm (1)
The Red Squirrel - Jessica Holm
History of the New Forest - Internet
British Birds and Biodiversity - Internet
The Countryside - Britain’s Disappearing Songbirds - Internet (2)
Encarta - Internet
Domestic Cats Wildlife Enemy Number One or Convenient Scapegoat - Internet
Cats Love Them or Hate Them - Internet
The Sparrowhawk - Dr Ian Newton
A Field Guide to Wildlife of the British Isles - Alice Tomsett
Are we giving songbirds their last supper? - Express News, Universty of Alberta – Michael Simpson
House of Lords, Tuesday 7 November 2006. (3)
Miniature Deer a big threat to British wildlife - Richard Grey
The Independent, London - Internet
The Times London - Internet
The Daily Mail - Internet
BBC - Internet
American Forests - Ethan Kearns
Redorbit News - Internet
National Geographic News
* Data from United Nations and Bureau of Census Internet