Feb 11, 2009
SOURCE: Agence France-presse
LONDON (AFP) �" They may be cute and cuddly but that won't be enough to save grey squirrels in northern Scotland after the launch on Tuesday of Britain?s largest ever culling campaign of a mammal.
Naturalists and landowners are joining forces to rid northern Scotland of the squirrels, arguing they carry a deadly pox virus and threaten the smaller native red squirrel.
Scotland is one of the few safe havens left for the red squirrel whose numbers have been in slow decline throughout Britain since the arrival of its stronger, disease-carrying cousin from North America in the 1870s.
"The red squirrel is the UK's only native squirrel but it is in danger of becoming extinct on mainland Scotland if action is not taken to protect it," said Mel Tonkin, manager of the Saving Scotland's Red Squirrels campaign.
"Our project aims to stop the decline of Scotland's red squirrels and help them expand across the country in the future, but we have a huge task ahead of us."
Estimates put the number of red squirrels in Scotland at around 120,000 and the number of greys at between 200,000 and 300,000.
Tens of thousands of greys are expected to be trapped and killed under the three-year, £1.3 million campaign sponsored by the Scottish government, the Guardian said.
Landowners will legally be allowed to shoot the grey animals as part of the culling set to start this spring, the newspaper said.
The culling has sparked alarm from some animal lovers. But Stuart Brooks, director of conservation at the Scottish Wildlife Trust, insisted the campaign was essential.
"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," he said.
