February Blog- Squirrel Conservation

This talked by Craig Shuttleworth addressed a major reoccurring argument within conservation – whether the red squirrel is worth saving?

A recent survey showed that:

69% of people feel they are and want the greys culled for their conservation!

The talk started by showing just how much damage grey squirrels can do and a shocking picture was shown of a house roof on fire after greys had chewed through the wiring! Another negative effect of greys that I didn’t realise is that they can cause a 15% reduction in song birds in areas where they are present.

There are 2 main ways that greys can reduce red squirrel:
1) Reducing the recruitment of reds
2) Spreading squirrel pox virus – with 15x faster decline in areas where the virus is present.

The main topic of the talk was the success of the reintroduction programme of reds on Anglesey. The greys in the area were eradicated as much as possible and red squirrels with a broad genetic base were introduced.

 

 

After many set-backs such as a captive population crash from a new disease known as adenovirus the programme has been a major success with an increasing red squirrel population each year.

I feel this project has shown that red squirrel conservation is possible and worthwhile. It is widely accepted that red squirrels will never be present across the whole of the UK again, but projects like this are a vital way of keeping red squirrels still present within their homeland.

This project still has a long way to go and there are future plans to expand the squirrel population further onto the mainland.
Other issues need to be overcome as well such as reds coming back to the mainland mixing with greys and taking the squirrel pox virus back. However I feel this is an excellent example of a successful reintroduction programme!

I really enjoyed this talk and it links well with my dissertation, and would love a future career within squirrel conservation.