Grey Squirrels

In recent months we have seen a build up of orchestrated hate being
directed at grey squirrels by a number of NGOs and conservation
organisations in order to gain public support for an agenda of killing
these friendly, amusing and relatively harmless animals.  This is now
a reality as Aberdeen City Council has embarked on a ruthless program
of killing.

However, before falling for the smooth-talking well paid advocates of
death, perhaps we should consider a number of issues.

·	The word "species" is no more than a scientific term within an
anthropocentrically concocted classification system and the idea we
should have adjectives such as "native", "non-native" and "alien"
describing an inanimate term is really quite ridiculous. It amounts to
the grand theft of these words for spurious and emotive reasons.

·	When a grey squirrel is trapped and bludgeoned to death, it is
not an alien or non-native species that is on the receiving end of the
club but an individual animal born and bred in this country from
around forty five generations and as native as I am.

·	All individual squirrels in Scotland are native by birth,
irrespective of their ancestral heritage or the colour of their fur.
The Greys' ancestors were brought here from America, just as the
present population of non-indigenous Reds were brought here from
Europe.  Indeed, there is no evidence to show that the so-called past
"indigenous" population was not introduced here as well.
Archaeological evidence of their existence in England after the last
ice age is both sketchy and inconclusive.

·	The idea that genetically different animals within the
wide-ranging flux of a species can be "re-introduced" because they
look similar is not only the product of sloppy science but on or over
the verge of dishonesty.  It's a bit like passing off a reproduction
for an antique.

·	The indigenous Red population, if there ever was such a thing,
was shot to extinction (confirmed by the Forestry Commission) by
estate owners and the like, who referred to them in the past as
"tree-rats" - the very same term as is now being used against Greys to
demonise them in the eyes of the general public.  Red squirrels were
as much a "pest" as Greys, to those who regarded them with
intolerance.

·	The squirrel-pox virus can be passed from Red to Red as well
as Grey to Red, and Red squirrel populations are now showing signs of
antibodies similar to that which provides the Greys with immunity.
This natural process will eventually protect the Reds.  In reality,
very few Greys are carriers of this disease and it is as unfair as it
is obscene to slaughter them indiscriminately on the premise of a
possibility.

·	The political and grant grabbing fad of planting native
broadleaf trees favours the expansion of Grey squirrels. This is well
known to conservationists, yet in only a very few places are they
willing to deviate from this path because of the money and politics
involved.  

·	Scottish Natural Heritage is the leading protagonist in this
drive against Grey squirrels.  They are in the unique position of
being advisors to government who in turn provides them with the
necessary funding to carry out whatever they manage to convince the
government is necessary.  This is an unhealthy and unbroken ring that
requires a continuous flow of environmental crisises to fund their
existence and regrettably this results in persecution of wildlife
unheard of in the past. Sadly, they are adopting the same principle of
ethnic cleansing against wildlife as numerous brutal regimes have done
against human populations.  It is a scientific fact that those who
have little regard for animal life are the most likely to have little
regard for human life.  This intolerance should have no part in a
civilised society.

Squirrels are not "ours", no matter what colour they are. We don't own
them.  They are independent and parallel mammalian populations to our
own and we should afford them the same respect and freedom we expect
for ourselves.
Angus Macmillan
www.roots-of-blood.org.uk
www.killhunting.org
www.con-servation.org.uk

All truth passes through three stages:
First, it is ridiculed;
Second, it is violently opposed; and
Third, it is accepted as self-evident. 
-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Grey Squirrels

In recent months we have seen a build up of orchestrated hate being
directed at grey squirrels by a number of NGOs and conservation
organisations in order to gain public support for an agenda of killing
these friendly, amusing and relatively harmless animals.  This is now
a reality as Aberdeen City Council has embarked on a ruthless program
of killing.

However, before falling for the smooth-talking well paid advocates of
death, perhaps we should consider a number of issues.

·	The word "species" is no more than a scientific term within an
anthropocentrically concocted classification system and the idea we
should have adjectives such as "native", "non-native" and "alien"
describing an inanimate term is really quite ridiculous. It amounts to
the grand theft of these words for spurious and emotive reasons.

·	When a grey squirrel is trapped and bludgeoned to death, it is
not an alien or non-native species that is on the receiving end of the
club but an individual animal born and bred in this country from
around forty five generations and as native as I am.

·	All individual squirrels in Scotland are native by birth,
irrespective of their ancestral heritage or the colour of their fur.
The Greys' ancestors were brought here from America, just as the
present population of non-indigenous Reds were brought here from
Europe.  Indeed, there is no evidence to show that the so-called past
"indigenous" population was not introduced here as well.
Archaeological evidence of their existence in England after the last
ice age is both sketchy and inconclusive.

·	The idea that genetically different animals within the
wide-ranging flux of a species can be "re-introduced" because they
look similar is not only the product of sloppy science but on or over
the verge of dishonesty.  It's a bit like passing off a reproduction
for an antique.

·	The indigenous Red population, if there ever was such a thing,
was shot to extinction (confirmed by the Forestry Commission) by
estate owners and the like, who referred to them in the past as
"tree-rats" - the very same term as is now being used against Greys to
demonise them in the eyes of the general public.  Red squirrels were
as much a "pest" as Greys, to those who regarded them with
intolerance.

·	The squirrel-pox virus can be passed from Red to Red as well
as Grey to Red, and Red squirrel populations are now showing signs of
antibodies similar to that which provides the Greys with immunity.
This natural process will eventually protect the Reds.  In reality,
very few Greys are carriers of this disease and it is as unfair as it
is obscene to slaughter them indiscriminately on the premise of a
possibility.

·	The political and grant grabbing fad of planting native
broadleaf trees favours the expansion of Grey squirrels. This is well
known to conservationists, yet in only a very few places are they
willing to deviate from this path because of the money and politics
involved.  

·	Scottish Natural Heritage is the leading protagonist in this
drive against Grey squirrels.  They are in the unique position of
being advisors to government who in turn provides them with the
necessary funding to carry out whatever they manage to convince the
government is necessary.  This is an unhealthy and unbroken ring that
requires a continuous flow of environmental crisises to fund their
existence and regrettably this results in persecution of wildlife
unheard of in the past. Sadly, they are adopting the same principle of
ethnic cleansing against wildlife as numerous brutal regimes have done
against human populations.  It is a scientific fact that those who
have little regard for animal life are the most likely to have little
regard for human life.  This intolerance should have no part in a
civilised society.

Squirrels are not "ours", no matter what colour they are. We don't own
them.  They are independent and parallel mammalian populations to our
own and we should afford them the same respect and freedom we expect
for ourselves.
Angus Macmillan
www.roots-of-blood.org.uk
www.killhunting.org
www.con-servation.org.uk

All truth passes through three stages:
First, it is ridiculed;
Second, it is violently opposed; and
Third, it is accepted as self-evident. 
-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Grey Squirrels

In recent months we have seen a build up of orchestrated hate being
directed at grey squirrels by a number of NGOs and conservation
organisations in order to gain public support for an agenda of killing
these friendly, amusing and relatively harmless animals.  This is now
a reality as Aberdeen City Council has embarked on a ruthless program
of killing.

However, before falling for the smooth-talking well paid advocates of
death, perhaps we should consider a number of issues.

·	The word "species" is no more than a scientific term within an
anthropocentrically concocted classification system and the idea we
should have adjectives such as "native", "non-native" and "alien"
describing an inanimate term is really quite ridiculous. It amounts to
the grand theft of these words for spurious and emotive reasons.

·	When a grey squirrel is trapped and bludgeoned to death, it is
not an alien or non-native species that is on the receiving end of the
club but an individual animal born and bred in this country from
around forty five generations and as native as I am.

·	All individual squirrels in Scotland are native by birth,
irrespective of their ancestral heritage or the colour of their fur.
The Greys' ancestors were brought here from America, just as the
present population of non-indigenous Reds were brought here from
Europe.  Indeed, there is no evidence to show that the so-called past
"indigenous" population was not introduced here as well.
Archaeological evidence of their existence in England after the last
ice age is both sketchy and inconclusive.

·	The idea that genetically different animals within the
wide-ranging flux of a species can be "re-introduced" because they
look similar is not only the product of sloppy science but on or over
the verge of dishonesty.  It's a bit like passing off a reproduction
for an antique.

·	The indigenous Red population, if there ever was such a thing,
was shot to extinction (confirmed by the Forestry Commission) by
estate owners and the like, who referred to them in the past as
"tree-rats" - the very same term as is now being used against Greys to
demonise them in the eyes of the general public.  Red squirrels were
as much a "pest" as Greys, to those who regarded them with
intolerance.

·	The squirrel-pox virus can be passed from Red to Red as well
as Grey to Red, and Red squirrel populations are now showing signs of
antibodies similar to that which provides the Greys with immunity.
This natural process will eventually protect the Reds.  In reality,
very few Greys are carriers of this disease and it is as unfair as it
is obscene to slaughter them indiscriminately on the premise of a
possibility.

·	The political and grant grabbing fad of planting native
broadleaf trees favours the expansion of Grey squirrels. This is well
known to conservationists, yet in only a very few places are they
willing to deviate from this path because of the money and politics
involved.  

·	Scottish Natural Heritage is the leading protagonist in this
drive against Grey squirrels.  They are in the unique position of
being advisors to government who in turn provides them with the
necessary funding to carry out whatever they manage to convince the
government is necessary.  This is an unhealthy and unbroken ring that
requires a continuous flow of environmental crisises to fund their
existence and regrettably this results in persecution of wildlife
unheard of in the past. Sadly, they are adopting the same principle of
ethnic cleansing against wildlife as numerous brutal regimes have done
against human populations.  It is a scientific fact that those who
have little regard for animal life are the most likely to have little
regard for human life.  This intolerance should have no part in a
civilised society.

Squirrels are not "ours", no matter what colour they are. We don't own
them.  They are independent and parallel mammalian populations to our
own and we should afford them the same respect and freedom we expect
for ourselves.
Angus Macmillan
www.roots-of-blood.org.uk
www.killhunting.org
www.con-servation.org.uk

All truth passes through three stages:
First, it is ridiculed;
Second, it is violently opposed; and
Third, it is accepted as self-evident. 
-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)