Grey squirrels 'do not harm woodland birds in England' (1 Viewer)

[TheSeagull]

Getting rid of them I agree with, killing them I do not.

 

[Barred Wobbler]

Getting rid of them I agree with, killing them I do not.

What do you suggest we do? Give them all visas to the USA and send them to Heathrow?

 

[Adam W]

Getting rid of them I agree with, killing them I do not.

How exactly would we do one without the other?

 

[Pete Mella]

How exactly would we do one without the other?

Go back in time and kill the dotty artistocrat who decided they'd improve the native fauna of the country?

 

[dantheman]

Getting rid of them I agree with, killing them I do not.

Problem is there are a lot of non-bunny hugging callous bstrds on here (realists?). There are big issues with alternatives - you can't just take them all somewhere else.

How about removing their nuts? ( )

Does baited live trapping work??

Assume so, to a degree (catches animals, but not all of them?). If you wanted to you could catch some squirrels and neuture/spay them, release them back into their territory, hoping to swamp the population with infertile animals to such a degree that successful mating is so rare that the population goes extinct/falls dramatically (has worked with some invertebrates I believe, although probably quite different circumstances)

Alternatively, genetically modify a nasty virus to affect only the greys ... and release animals back into the wild with it...

Now there's a can of worms or two....

 

[Adam W]

. If you wanted to you could catch some squirrels and neuture/spay them, release them back into their territory,

That is illegal as it is releasing a non native species.

 

[TheSeagull]

Yes I agree with the neuteuring, I'd also agree with a first class flight but I'm sure the airlines want paying customers.

 

[dantheman]

That is illegal as it is releasing a non native species.

Sorry, not you or I. It would have to be a proper scientific program and those who set the laws/nature conservation bodies would presumably be involved in it.

Can't quite see it happening myself.

 

[Adam W]

Yes I agree with the neuteuring, I'd also agree with a first class flight but I'm sure the airlines want paying customers.

Any sensible or practical ideas that might actually work?

 

[Barred Wobbler]

In the meantime the expensively neutered pests, while not breeding continue to kill the red squirrels with their parasites. Now that's what I call a really sensible solution!

 

[Jacana]

I found Professor Acorn's website most enlightening. Did you know that:

"...a polar bear from Alaska would be regarded as "native" to the Nevada deserts, simply because it is a "native species" of the USA."

"Shooting us in trees, while damaging the very trees they're often so concerned about."

fascinating.

The people who follow such logic remind me strongly of the people who sent death threats to Gerald Durrell after he supported the eradication program of goats on Round Island off Mauritius so that the plantlife could support the little remaining topsoil on the island, home to several species of endemic and highly endangered reptiles.

If it has big eyes and it's fluffy it gets carte blanche, unlike those nasty dangerous snakes!

 

[Shi Jin]

Let me get off the fence on this one...

They have wiped out the native red in Norfolk and many parts of England as I understand.

For what it's worth, I would be happy to see every last *********** one of them exterminated.

I've never shot anything in my life (except with a Nikon), but would have no qualms whatsoever to pulling the triggers of both barrels and blowing the vermin all the way back to their ancestral home.

The sooner the better.

 

[Pete Mella]

I found Professor Acorn's website most enlightening. Did you know that:

"...a polar bear from Alaska would be regarded as "native" to the Nevada deserts, simply because it is a "native species" of the USA."

"Shooting us in trees, while damaging the very trees they're often so concerned about."

fascinating.

To be fair he is a squirrel. It's quite impressive he's even able to run a website, you can't really expect him to talk sense as well...

 

[Jacana]

To be fair he is a squirrel. It's quite impressive he's even able to run a website, you can't really expect him to talk sense as well...

I forget, silly me :smoke:

another little gem: Landowners and gardeners can refuse access to trappers and feed grey squirrels where traps are known to be in the vicinity. The latter is known to work in a location where for the past two years grey squirrels have been trapped without any effect on their population level, as they will stay close to where they are fed. It could even increase their fecundity.

Now I can sort of understand why people don't want to see bloodshed (that oft quoted, melodramatic phrase) but why on earth would anyone think it would be a good idea to increase the population?

 

[ChrisKten]

Well I started the thread, then left it alone. I've now caught up with all that's been said, some of it was even on the topic of Birds (right at the beginning).

Just an observation:

I think the funniest thing about threads like this, is that some people seem to truly believe that what they post will actually make a difference. Most of the time it does as much good as shouting at yourself in a mirror, it's only words, and nobody else is listening.

Anyway, keep going, I'm off to feed the Squirrels.

 

[Barred Wobbler]

Well I started the thread, then left it alone. I've now caught up with all that's been said, some of it was even on the topic of Birds (right at the beginning).

Just an observation:

I think the funniest thing about threads like this, is that some people seem to truly believe that what they post will actually make a difference. Most of the time it does as much good as shouting at yourself in a mirror, it's only words, and nobody else is listening.

Anyway, keep going, I'm off to feed the Squirrels.

And yet, you still posted it.

 

[ChrisKten]

And yet, you still posted it.

Of course I did, and it's been very entertaining.

 

[Barred Wobbler]

 

[ChrisKten]

I suppose that I should qualify that last post:

Isn't this just a bit of fun? Occasionally you read something interesting, sometimes you even learn something, you can even make friends. But most of the time it's simply something to do, isn't it? Or did you think it was all "serious business" on the Internet?

 

[Barred Wobbler]

Serious? Not a bit.

It's a message board, for Pete's sake.

Hyde Park Corner for the world.