Should we EDIT NATURE?
The grey squirrel is a familiar creature in our parks and gardens. This fluffy-tailed mammal has been making mischief in the UK for a while now, overwhelming our native reds since being introduced here from North America in the late 19th century. Before the greys arrived, the UK was home to about 3.5 million reds; today, only 120,000–160,000 remain.
Reds have suffered at the paws of greys. Their larger, non-native cousins outcompete them for food and also carry the squirrelpox virus, which is often fatal to reds but not to greys. Scientists have worked to develop a vaccine to protect red squirrels from the disease, but inoculation isn’t much use when it comes to a ransacked larder.
“Current strategies are largely failing to control numbers of grey squirrels.”
Currently, attempts to control the grey squirrel population involve poisoning or trapping and shooting. But conservationists are exploring more humane ways of keeping their numbers in check. One idea is to use pine
