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3rd Announcement of the 6th International Colloquium on Arboreal Squirrels

john — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 08:24:36 +0000

The 6^th International Colloquium on Arboreal Squirrels will be held in Kyoto City, Japan, from 4th to 8th February, 2012. The colloquium is held every 3 years; previous veues have been U.S.A (1994), U.S.A. (2000), England (2003), India (2006), and Canada (2009). These meetings cover any aspect of the biology of tree and flying squirrels from all over the world, including their ecology, behaviour, physiology, phylogeny, evolutionary biology, conservation and management. Participants can register through the website; questions about the colloquium can be mailed to .

The distribution of grey squirrels in Italy continues to increase

john — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 09:43:15 +0000

The recent launch of the of the European funded ES-SQUARE project in Italy to protect the native red squirrel from the invading grey squirrel could not have come sooner (see news item dated July 25th 2011). A paper published in 2010 in Hystrix, The Italian Journal of Mammalogy about the situation in Italy clearly shows that the grey squirrel continues to increase its range in the the north of the country. The authors emphasise the need for the immediate ban of the pet trade in squirrels and the implementation of eradication or control actions.

Squirrels damage fibre optic network

john — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:08:09 +0000

Level 3, which provides telecommunications services, has reported that grey squirrels cause 17 percent of the damage to their fiber optic network. This is a reduction on last year’s 28% damage resulting from the fitting of cable guards. The reasons why they cause so much damage to cables is unclear.

Poxvirus found in a red squirrel in Spain

john — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 10:00:32 +0000

Elena Oban and colleagues have detected a poxvirus in a red squirrel road casualty from north-east Spain. The squirrel had many haematomas in its body, and skin lesions on its ear tips, tail and feet, but not on the eyelids or mouth as found with Squirrel poxvirus (SQPV) infection in red squirrels in the UK. Preliminary analysis suggest it is an orthopoxirus, but morphologically distinct from SQPV. Grey squirrels, carriers of SQPV, have never been recorded in Spain. The case is reported in Veterinary Record (see Publications page).

Wales release new conservation plans for red squirrels

john — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 08:00:29 +0000

The Countryside Council for Wales have released new conservation plans for red squirrels in Wales including: (1) to identify and monitor populations of red squirrels, including surveying all sites with records of red squirrels in the last 10 years, and monitoring focal sites; (2) to prepare and implement red squirrel management plans for focal sites; (3) to establish community groups to support and join in the conservation effort; (4) to establish and maintain a red squirrel database, and (5) to review the need for research – to assess, for example, the potential impact of climate change on red squirrel conservation. Work to turn the conservation plan into action is being led by the Wales Squirrel Forum.

The sale of grey squirrel meat in London causes controversy

john — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:52:15 +0000

An independently-owned Budgens grocery store in North London has started the sale of grey squirrel meat sourced from the County of Essex. However, this has been criticised by opponents such as VIVA – Vegetarians Voice for Animals – saying that this is a barbaric and needless cull and what gruesome product will be next to grace our food aisles, blackbird, field mouse or mole? Large numbers of the introduced grey squirrel are culled throughout Britain to prevent damage to trees and to help conserve the native red squirrel. The story has appeared in several media outlets: BBC News, ITN, The Independent, Virgin Media, Asylum.

Attractive piebald, grey squirrel seen in Somerset, England

john — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 09:00:21 +0000

An attractive piebald grey squirrel, with a dark, russet head, silver white back and sides and grey tail was photographed by Dennis Hawker feeding on a bird table in Somerset, England in June 2010 – the photograph has been placed in the Gallery. Apparently, the squirrel has been a regular visitor to the garden during the summer. It would be interesting to know if anyone else has seen unusually coloured squirrels, other than albino and dark or melanic forms.

Man fined for killing grey squirrel in England has wider implications

john — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 09:16:58 +0000

In July, a man was given a 6 months conditional discharge from Burton-upon-Trent Magistrates’ Court in Staffordshire, Central England and ordered to pay £1,547 to cover investigation and legal fees incurred by the Royal Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) for killing a grey squirrel. The man had trapped the squirrel in a cage trap and drowned it in a water butt because it kept taking food from his bird table. The RSPCA brought the case under the Animal Weldfare Act 2006 and the man admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal last December. The landmark ruling is seen by the RSPCA as a test case that could have implications for the control of grey squirrels with respect to other activities such as tree damage prevention and red squirrel conservation. The story has been widely discussed in the media: BBC News UK; Telegraph; Metro; Burton Mail; Burton Mail(2).

Squirrels and ‘nuts’

john — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 09:00:07 +0000

Seeing how a grey squirrel escaping ‘death by car’, Natalie Angier recently wrote a piece in the New York Times about the fascination that these animals have for biologists in USA.

Red squirrels making a comeback

john — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:33:18 +0000

This is the headline of a BBC News article (reported on 16th February 2010) that arises from the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS) conference held recently in Perth. For example, there are signs of a revival of red squirrels in parts of NE Scotland and it is believed that controlling the grey squirrel intruders is having a positive effect.