The 132 years since the
introduction of the American grey squirrel has seen the rapid demise of our
native red. Scotland in now home to over 75% of the entire UK red squirrel
population.
Incursion and establishment by pox
carrying grey squirrels is now the single largest threat to red squirrels in
Scotland. The Squirrelpox virus is harmless to greys but is lethal to the
native reds, with squirrels dying a horrible death over two weeks. The
Squirrelpox virus also has the devastating effect of speeding up the rate at
which grey squirrels displace and replace reds (usually about 15 years) by a
factor of twenty, denying researchers adequate time to develop an effective
vaccine for reds or a contraceptive for greys, along with targeted ways of administering
them. The current lethal grey squirrel control effort is essential in order to
ensure that red squirrels survive long enough to benefit from future non-lethal
methods of control.
In the past 50 years, the
population of red squirrel in Scotland has dropped more than 50%. Conservation
of natural habitat, control of the grey squirrel population and support to
dedicated organizations - by donations, volunteering, or simply report a
sighting of a red squirrel by text or phone to help identification and monitoring
- are still the main ways to prevent this endangered species from disappearing.
References:
- http://www.red-squirrels.org.uk
Rotaract
Club of Aberdeen – RID 1010, SCOTLAND
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