Save our reds !
The cutest animal in Britain is threatened with extinction. The number of red squirrels is in decline since the arrival of the greys from North America in the 19th century. Greys outcompete reds for food and habitat and carry the pox, a virus which only harm reds. Only 121,000 red squirrels currently remain in Scotland, home of 75% of UK’s reds. On the contrary, between 200,000 and 300,000 grey squirrels live in Scotland. Several projects have been launched to prevent the disappearance of red squirrels. Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels has been created last February, involving the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Scottish Natural Heritage, Forestry Commission Scotland and the Scottish Property and Business Association. It aims at developing habitats for red squirrels but also controlling the greys, which will involve killing them. Stuart Brooks, from SWT, said: "I can understand and empathise with those people who do not like the prospect of killing wild animals, but it is disingenuous to say that there are viable alternative solutions to saving the red squirrel in Scotland."
In order to understand causes of transmission of pox to red squirrels and fight against it, Tim Dale, a trained vet, began in October a PhD at Liverpool University. He tries to determine whether red squirrels are able to develop an immunity. Postmortems on eight reds that died of natural causes last year found traces of an antibody, raising hopes that reds may develop resistance to the virus. If Dale finds that some living reds become immune, this could help researchers attempting to develop a vaccine to protect reds from the virus. "It's pretty clear that this virus is instrumental in the decline of the red at the hands of the grey, said Begon of the PhD project. Our current ignorance is preventing us doing much about it. Without that knowledge we have no hope of saving the red squirrel."
Dr Kirsty Park, from the School of Biological and Environmental Sciences of the University of Stirling, explains what the future of red squirrels will be and why killing grey squirrels is the only solution to save reds.
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