26
October 2015
The
red squirrel has been in severe decline in the UK but one island has completely
eliminated grey squirrels to promote a red resurgence. Could it lead to a wider
programme of eradication, asks Rachel Argyle.
Once
common, red squirrels have declined rapidly in the UK since the 1950s, falling
in numbers from about 3.5 million, to a current estimated population of around
130,000.
Anglesey,
an island off the north-west coast of Wales, declared itself a grey
squirrel-free zone earlier this year after an 18-year cull.
Now,
it's been announced that a share of £1.2m of Heritage Lottery Fund money will
see the cull of grey squirrels extend to the neighbouring county of Gwynedd,
where no native nutkins have been spotted for nearly 70 years.
Grey
squirrels, said to have been brought to Britain from the US in the 19th
Century, crossed the Menai Strait between Anglesey and mainland Wales in the
mid-1960s. By 1998 the species had replaced the red squirrel almost completely,
with only 40 red squirrels remaining.
It's
long been believed that greys act as carriers of squirrel pox - which kills
reds.
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