Hi,

You asked for comments on the above - Pros and Cons of bounty schemes for the eradication of the grey squirrel.

I am in favour of a bounty scheme to encourage people to kill grey squirrels.  Without such a scheme it seems there will be little progress in eradicating the grey squirrel. Current plans to tackle the grey in areas where it is encroaching on the reds, will presumably work in those areas.  However unless greys are tackled nation-wide, there will always be greys entering the cleared areas from the adjacent non-cleared areas.   So the cull will be never ending in those areas.  Better to spend money in an intensive UK clearance.

I have killed 48 grey squirrels in my garden over the past 26 months.  It is clear that they didn't all live in my garden, they are continually touring around and they will drift into areas where the intensity of greys is least. As soon as I clear my local area, more come in from surrounding areas. Unless the general public can be educated to stop regarding the grey squirrel as being cute, and can be encouraged to kill them, there will always be a reservoir of greys in the areas covered by ordinary back gardens.

TV programmes and newspapers have to be educated into how they present the grey.  Bill Oddie has been remiss in speaking about them favourably. Newspapers reporting the recent government culling intention appear to fall over themselves to highlight that there will be an adverse public reaction. But according to the European Squirrel Initiative, there is general public support for action against them.

The call for Government intervention is loudest in Scotland at 75.4 per cent of those questioned while for the North and Borders the figure is 70.6 per cent. Wales and the South West comes a close third at 69.8 per cent with Lancashire and Yorkshire 64.2 per cent and 65.4 per cent respectively.  The figure for the East of England was the lowest at 62 per cent with Northern Ireland showing 63.4 per cent. So the majority of the public are already in favour of a cull. 

Government should be taking the grey squirrel problem far more seriously. See the following site, for good cover on the adverse effects of the grey. http://www.europeansquirrelinitiative.org/links.html

By copying this to James Cookson, I'd appreciate that this be passed to my MP Adam Afriye, to show that at least one UK citizen supports the proposed cull on grey squirrels, and asks for greater action against them.

Regards, Andrew Cormie,