Grey squirrels to be hunted in bid to safeguard the reds

A POWERFUL alliance of state organisations and wildlife charities has been formed to organise a determined cull of grey squirrels across a swathe of northern England, including parts of Yorkshire, in a last-ditch effort to save the native red squirrel.

Applications are being invited for a 35,000-a-year project leader to organise the shooters and trappers required, from a base in Carlisle. Some will be professional pest controllers, but volunteers will also be encouraged. The aims are to preserve the last havens of the red squirrel in England and to create a buffer zone against a pox carried by the grey squirrels before it spreads into Scotland.

Natural England, the Forestry Commission, several Wildlife Trusts and the Red Squirrel Survival Trust have pooled resources which would have gone into squirrel management and added some new money to make a 3m pot to fund five years of activity under a management body representing them all. They all say their previous policies have included culling grey squirrels but their agreement to unite for that particular purpose is striking, in view of past disagreements about the effectiveness of it.

The RSPCA remains dubious. Lord Rupert Redesdale, a Northumberland peer who has organised a lot of culling on his own initiative, with some Defra funding, has called the alliance's announcement "astonishing" and said he would be in touch to offer his experience.

The project will be known as Red Squirrels North England and will concentrate on 17 red squirrel strongholds and surrounding areas, mainly in Cumberland and Northumberland but also in Durham, Lancashire and Yorkshire – in a patch known as the Yorkshire Dales complex, roughly bordered by a Sedbergh-Kirkby Stephen line to the west and Kilnsey-Askrigg to the east. Other target areas may be added – particularly river valleys which greys travel along to get into the red havens.

The culling techniques will be a mix of shooting, trapping followed by shooting, and trapping and killing simultaneously, using a kind of giant mousetrap. The official announcement this week said: "The project aims to maintain and where possible increase the size of red squirrel populations within the strongholds through targeted and sustained grey squirrel control.

It also aims to reduce the rate of grey squirrel expansion across the wider project area where it benefits red squirrel populations."

Environment Minister Richard Benyon said: "I am very pleased that this partnership is launching a project of this scale.

"I hope they will encourage a dedicated army of volunteers to join the many people already working to preserve the English population of red squirrels."

See www.environmentjob.co.uk/job/25408-Project-Manager-Red-Squirrels-Northern-England for

details of the job vacancy.

Opposing voices

Miles Barne, chairman of the Red Squirrel Survival Trust, said: "There has never been a red squirrel conservation project across northern England on this scale before. With everyone working together, I'm confident we can save northern England's reds." An RSPCA spokeswoman said: "The RSPCA believes any cull is unlikely to be a long-term solution. Where the motivation is that a cull of 'greys' will increase the number of 'reds', the RSPCA has concerns about whether this is, firstly, effective, and secondly about the ethics of culling one species in favour of another."

CW 20/11/10