Couple’s kindness to ‘tree rat’ was a crime

THE other day I was walking in Burley-in-Wharfedale when I observed a couple who took a wire basket out of their car and going up to a tree in Grange Park released a grey squirrel, which immediately scampered up the tree into the branches.

I am sure that they viewed this as their good deed for the day, and a humane method of dealing with an interloper that was responsible for stealing the food put out for the birds in their garden. Regrettably it is neither, indeed what this couple did was a criminal offence and likely to cause distress and death to the animal and its young.

Section 14 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes it an offence to release into the environment any grey squirrel that has been trapped. All such animals should be destroyed humanely, and those who set traps should be aware of this.

Since its introduction into this country by the Victorians, as is widely known, this alien species has all but wiped out its more delicate red cousin by out-competing it and by carrying squirrel pox, to which the grey is immune but the red is susceptible. What is less well known is that this threat is wider spread and impinges not only on all small mammals in the environment but is also having a deleterious effect on the wild bird population.

Unfortunately the appeal of the grey squirrel’s appearance belies the threat it poses to our native species and is the reason why it is encouraged by the general public rather than being treated like it’s cousin the rat.