albino squirrle

[Tappers]

Originally Posted by paganlis

"sorry but the only normal squirrels that I know are kept captive are those that have been hand reared from the wild and for some reason haven't been released, you would need at the very least a very large aviary/enclosure their life is considerably shortened if kept in the house, they are such sociable creatures with their own company that I think it would be very cruel to keep one by itself, as you know we hand rear them but all of ours are released they choose to come back to us for food etc but we would never consider keeping one as a "pet", as adults they can be agressive and do a lot of damage they would wreck a house very quickly, they don't just go to one person or at least ours don't they are equally as freindly to the staff in the main house or anyone who chooses to feed them. The joy and aim of rearing any wild animal is to successfully release it back into the wild not keep it as a pet and if the rearer doesn't live where they can be released then there are plenty of organisations that do have that facility, you do need a lisence to release we get away with it because of where we live."


Well, that's me told then!

Don't worry, I wasn't actually seriously thinking about having one as a pet - I'd say I wanted a polar bear of my own too but I do understand the difference between domestic and wild animals

Passionate people us squirrel folk You get used to fighting the grey cause

[Pussygalore]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels that way as most people are only to ready to call them pests, shoot them or cut down their trees along with hunting the fox.

[swad1000]

Who has mentioned fox hunting? The Grey squirrel is an invader in this country, and I'd quite happily support there eradication from this country to see the return of the red Squirrel. On the other hand I don't think the current fox hunting ban goes nearly far enough, as people are still exploiting loop holes.

Getting rid of Grey squirrels in this country has nothing to do with sport, its about returning balance to our countryside, and allowing our own native squirrel to return.

If there was plans to eradicate Grey squirrels in the USA, I'd be opposed to that, as that is where they belong.

[Pussygalore]

Do you really think that by getting rid of all the greys the reds would reappear, if that was the case then most of us would gladly go along with it, the reds wouldn't and couldn't live where we are as the trees etc are the wrong sort , if you put the reds here they would die, as far as I know they require fir/pine tree forests we have none of those near us, they might come back in areas where they could survive and I'd have no problem with erradicating the grey in those parts if it gave the reds more of a chance, but talking about a total erradication of a species that we introduced to me is a terrible thing to say I'm sure they aren't the only non native animal in this country, control yes in the reds areas but not mass murder.

[swad1000]

What do you mean the trees are the wrong sort? The native habitat of the Red squirrel is the deciduous forests of England, in fact the very area you live in, they have been displaced to the pine forests in Scotland as they can't compete with the Grey squirrel.

You should find out more about the Red squirrel, the only reason they now mainly live in pine Forrest's is because they have an advantage over the Grey squirrel there, they thrived in areas that the Grey squirrel now inhabit for thousands of years before man interfered.

So yes total eradication of the Grey squirrel from the UK, would allow the red to recolonize the entire UK, just as they once did.

And no they aren't the only introduced species, other species as well are causing problems for our native wildlife, signal crayfish,( another US invader, sorry Danny), is causing problems for our fish stocks and out competing our native crayfish.

[Tappers]

Quite so, the current state of the poor old Reds has more to do with habitat change and persecution than competition from Greys. Licences to shoot reds were only withdrawn in the 70's and in some areas they coexisted for twenty years.

I agree that a 'fire break' is needed to preserve existing red populations but killing greys in most of the country is like killing domestic dogs to help bring back the wolf

[swad1000]

You could quite happily reintroduce wolves into this country, domestic dogs would not out compete them, the wolves would make a tasty snack out of most domestic dogs, so that parallel does not work.

As for them coexisting, the reds have been pushed back for the last hundred years since Grey's were introduced, until we reached the situation today were reds cling to a few remote areas, work is still under way to see if these areas of population are stable, or to see if Grey's are still encroaching onto ever dwindling red populations.

The main reason for red decline in Grey squirrel encroachment, not habitat change or persecution. That is why is certain areas of there natural range, where Grey's were never introduced, and can't get there through natural spread, reds still thrive.

[Pussygalore]

sorry if I got it wrong about their habitat but most of the sites I've looked on say that the reds DO prefer coniferous forests so I assumed that they knew what they were talking about, anyway as its not likely that a mass cull of the greys is going to happen apart from where the reds already are then mine are still welcome in my garden, and as I can't go out and buy some reds to reintroduce into our park going out and killing all the ones in the park wouldn't do any good, so untill the law or whatever changes then I shall carry on rearing and letting them go as my few per year won't make the slightest bit of difference to the population.

[Tappers]

Originally Posted by swad1000

You could quite happily reintroduce wolves into this country, domestic dogs would not out compete them, the wolves would make a tasty snack out of most domestic dogs, so that parallel does not work.

As for them coexisting, the reds have been pushed back for the last hundred years since Grey's were introduced, until we reached the situation today were reds cling to a few remote areas, work is still under way to see if these areas of population are stable, or to see if Grey's are still encroaching onto ever dwindling red populations.

The main reason for red decline in Grey squirrel encroachment, not habitat change or persecution. That is why is certain areas of there natural range, where Grey's were never introduced, and can't get there through natural spread, reds still thrive.

I think they'd make love not war swad1000, you'd have plenty of staffy x wolf hybrids for the farmers to shoot at

The fact remains that the more arboreal nature of the reds makes them less suited to the vast areas of the country which are now urban and settled. Some lucky devils still get reds in their gardens but a broken canopy and housing estates favours the more terrestrial and opportunistic grey.

[swad1000]

Originally Posted by Pussygalore

sorry if I got it wrong about their habitat but most of the sites I've looked on say that the reds DO prefer coniferous forests so I assumed that they knew what they were talking about, anyway as its not likely that a mass cull of the greys is going to happen apart from where the reds already are then mine are still welcome in my garden, and as I can't go out and buy some reds to reintroduce into our park going out and killing all the ones in the park wouldn't do any good, so untill the law or whatever changes then I shall carry on rearing and letting them go as my few per year won't make the slightest bit of difference to the population.

I'm not having a go Anne, but unless you have a license to release them, you are legally required to kill any Grey Squirrel anyway. Although I personally wouldn't do that, I don't see anything wrong with rehabilitating injured or sick Grey squirrels, but if they did make moves to eradicate them I would support that, if they were going to reintroduce the Red squirrel, but until that ever happens, theres nothing wrong with looking after injured wildlife.