99 Station Street

This story starts with an article that hit the national papers, the full story is at: www.burtonmail.co.uk/News/Wildlife-expert-raps-RSPCA-on-selective-cruelty-ideas.htm . The real controversy comes out as two very opposing groups express their views. My own opinion was that the case was about the RSPCA overstepping the line by a mile, but the issue of cruelty is a difficult one to take a side on. Apparently you should not drown any animal, it’s cruel and prolonged, but rather knock it out or shoot it. For those of you who believe that grey squirrels are cute and fluffy and all animals live in peace and harmony, this article is for you.

I grew up in the Lake District and we had red squirrels living in an abandoned bird box in the garden. My dad would hand feed the squirrels and they were pretty good neighbours. A few miles down the road Beatrix Potter wrote Squirrel Nutkin and I gained a Tufty club certificate. So, I like red squirrels, they are native to the UK and are now endangered.

The grey squirrel however, is not a nice creature. It will clear out berries, pillage nut trees, dig up bulbs, destroy birds nests and their eggs, kill red squirrels with squirrel pox (they themselves are immune), eat the wiring in your roof and ravage your hamster without so much as a cheap bottle of wine and some smooth banter.

In a field, you would shoot pigeons and rabbits if they are harmful to your crops. So why not the squirrel? I guess it’s because they look cute and very few people buy into the idea that these creatures are as dangerous as they are. Grey squirrels are pests, simple as that. When you catch one in a trap, you would risk prosecution to release them as they are classed as a pest. You then have two choices; hand them over to a sanctuary or dispatch them. Most of these traps do not have any means to help you out. There are no connections so you can plug the thing into the mains, nor is there is a convenient mob of victimised field mice to perform a lynching.

The only thing you can do is get your hands dirty. Maybe the manufacturers should provide freepost packages to send them over to the RSPCA, they seem to know what to do. Of course, there would be air holes in the boxes, anything else would be cruel?