http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/07/red.squirrel

On Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:17:18 -0700 (PDT), grimus107@yahoo.co.uk wrote:

>http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/07/red.squirrel


The ongoing campaign against grey squirrels is grossly unfair and
doesn't stack up factually.
 
Red squirrels are at the edge of their range in the UK, which
stretches from here to China, and all mammals are subject to
population fluctuations in these circumstances. If we want to assist
the reds to survive we should be improving their habitat by planting
trees in which they thrive, rather than wallpapering the countryside
with native broadleaves that favour the greys' expansion. We should
also be reducing our own intrusion into their domain. 

There is no evidence that greys are transmitting squirrel-pox virus
(SQPV) to reds as the presence of antibodies in greys merely means
they have been in contact with the disease, most probably by
associating with reds or possibly other rodents that were already
infected.  The Forestry Commission have admitted that "no routine
testing of live red squirrels is undertaken" and they "are not aware
of any scientific evidence one way or another as to whether or not
there is a resistant population of reds out there" so it is quite
wrong for red squirrel groups to say that they have no immunity to the
disease.  Indeed, the population could well have been wiped out long
ago if there were not some form of resistance present.

Early in the last century, out of forty-four districts in England
where red squirrels had the disease only four districts had grey
squirrels present. This suggests that SQPV has been within the red
squirrel population for around a century at least and that grey
squirrels are victims of a campaign of vilification.  Some people even
have the audacity to claim that SQPV somehow arrived around the time
it was discovered in 1983 but that is about as ridiculous as claiming
America didn't exist before it was "discovered" by Leif Ericson.

The hate campaign against grey squirrels has reached such a pitch that
red squirrel campaigners are prepared to ignore anything factual that
doesn't quite suit their agenda. 
All squirrels born in this country are "native" by birth, just the
same as we are, irrespective of our colour, background or success. To
rightly expect tolerance for our own population but condemn wildlife
on the basis of its ancestoral background is extremely hypocritical.

For the greys' side of the story read "Professor Acorn's" website on
www.grey-squirrel.org.uk 


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)