"We have reached the point.... where kindness is officially a crime...."
So Natural England have spoken (again). 2019 will be the year that they want to make criminals out of some of the most compassionate people in the country, those who rescue and rehabilitate wildlife. No longer will wildlife rescues be permitted to ease the suffering of species which Natural England have decided are 'invasive' and therefore not worthy of compassion and kindness. In discriminating between animals, Natural England have perhaps reached an all time low - and as we know they have already sunk to some depths, such as when they gave the green light to killing native songbirds including the robin and wren. Previously, laws were in place requiring wildlife rescues to apply for a licence to help injured and orphaned grey squirrels. Though restrictive, these licences allowed for the rehabilitation of limited numbers of the animals. Now Natural England have sent an email to rescues advising them that their licences will not be renewed. From the end of March, any wildlife rescue or vet that is presented with an injured or orphaned grey squirrel, will, by law, be required to kill it. "Absolutely Devastating" - Animal Aid Jade Emery of Animal Aid said of the new rules, "To make rescuing any animal in need against the law is absurd and absolutely devastating. This new Order will do nothing but needlessly increase animal suffering and it is completely implausible that Natural England are unaware of this fact." She called the new rule 'tyrannical' and added that "by implementing these new regulations, Natural England will be condemning these innocent animals to suffering and often death, and robbing them of any chance of rescue." The same will apply to some other non-native 'invasive' species such as the diminutive Muntjac Deer. Compassion Should Not Be 'Regulated' By Natural England It shouldn't be Natural England's decision. Wildlife belongs to nobody - and compassion should not be regulated by Natural England, an agency that clearly knows nothing about human-kindness. It seems that we have reached the point where kindness is officially a crime. Petition Natalia Doran of Urban Squirrels, a London-based rescue, has started a petition which aims to stop the new regulation coming into force. You can sign it HERE
34 Comments
31/12/2018 04:30:22 pm
Grey squurrels are forest regenerators/oxygen producers through planting trees, are no danger to any other species, are sentient beings, and deserve our care and protection. Their displacement and suffering is largely due to human interference, so please allow humans to right those wrongs through compassionate rehabilitation. Don't be the ignorant types that don't bither to research, but instead follow a ridiculous, outdated mindset. The US has Trump for that type of behavior.
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Lindsay
31/12/2018 05:15:12 pm
Actually grey squirrels were responsible for the near extinction of our native red squirrels and would still be a threat if there weren't squirrel rangers in place. I am fortunate enough to live in the north of England where we still have a red squirrel population.
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stephen oades
31/12/2018 06:13:23 pm
that is largely a myth - the grey squirrel has been scapegoated. The biggest threat to red squirrels is man; appropriate habitat has been destroyed by human activity, please read these articles: https://www.animalaid.org.uk/grey-squirrels-truth/
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Iain McNab
31/12/2018 08:26:49 pm
Well said Lindsay. All the groups working to protect the Red Squirrel are united in confirming that the American Grey Squirrel is the main problem.
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Peter T
1/1/2019 02:48:38 pm
The grey squirrel is not a threat to the red particularly. Reds are under threat predominantly from human activity, habitat loss. Greys are much more adaptive to mixed environment and so able to survive where the ress struggle. It is alleged red squirrel preservation societies are favoured by those who enjoy hunting as a hobby. Promoting the myths of the greys being such a menace to justify their hunting activity.
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Sonia hector Jones
1/1/2019 05:43:20 pm
Actually humans were responsible for the decline in reds. With habitat destruction and killing reds in their tens of thousands as a pest as usual humans are to blame the greys are just scapegoats
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Matrix
31/12/2018 05:20:39 pm
This is an interesting article. Bring in a foreign population and it destroys the native population. This applies to people as well.
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stephen oades
31/12/2018 06:15:57 pm
as per my previous response, there are a lot of myths and untruths around this, please read the following:
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Lynn
31/12/2018 11:15:23 pm
Very well said
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Shaz khan
30/9/2019 09:31:17 am
Oh dear it seems our friend matrix is not only anti squirrels, but is also a racist too.
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Brian Henderson
31/12/2018 05:34:56 pm
I think it is time to stop interfering. As I understand it, it is mankinds fault that the grey squirrel is here and able to wipe out the red squirrel. Have we not seen this over and over, and have we not seen the disasters that follow when man tries to put his mistakes right?
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Karen B
22/12/2019 06:49:19 pm
Well said.
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Jeremy Young
31/12/2018 05:56:12 pm
What an absolute load of bull@&£🤮. They are treerats and should be treated as such. I have worked on a National Nature Resreve for 30+ years and have witnessed first hand the awful devastation they cause to our landscape. The bark stripping I see annually on our ancient beech pollards which are 450+ years old and the new generations we are trying to create is heartbreaking. They have no natural predators here as they would have in the US and need to be culled. FULL STOP!
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stephen oades
31/12/2018 06:21:44 pm
utter nonsense - I have many grey squirrels in the woodland behind my garden, it is absolutely fine.
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Tracy Bastow
31/10/2019 10:34:33 pm
I totally agree with you Stephen, I live opposite a nature reserve, we have wonderful trees with bark and grey squirrels, I totally agree with Jason, absolutely terrible that we can't show compassion to a orphaned or injured creature! and blaming them for red squirrels decline again ludicrous, MAN ruin habitat, take every inch of the natural countryside, poor hedgehogs are having a difficult time, due to man, a country of free will well obviously not!
Philip Wookey
31/12/2018 08:12:19 pm
Utter nonsense, and people that call squirrels tree rats are, in my experience, rather stupid people. Grey squirrels do not damage trees, why would they, they live in tree's. Actually when studied it was found that Red Squirrels are far more destructive than Grey's, that's why they were pretty much wiped out by people, yes people, not Grey Squirrels. Incidentally, the Red Squirrels in the UK are not native, they were introduced from Scandinavia. There are no native Red Squirrels in England or Scotland.
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Iain McNab
31/12/2018 08:28:05 pm
Well said Jeremy Young.
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Shaz khan
30/9/2019 09:29:24 am
Dear Mr young
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stephen oades
31/12/2018 06:24:13 pm
thanks for the article and for linking the petition - I had signed it already.
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Harry
31/12/2018 07:16:12 pm
I am a forester and also see the damage that these creatures do, and as a young adult have never seen our NATIVE squirell population in the wild, I feel that this a step in the direction that will aid in the irradication of this pest species, I feel that there should be a nation wide policy to have this species removed from the UK completely, we managed to do it once. My views come from experience and training
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Philip Wookey
31/12/2018 08:15:50 pm
your views seem to come from ignorance and bigotry. There are no NATIVE red squirrels in England, please do some research and educate yourself. People wiped out the Red Squirrel population. The current Reds are from Scandinavia. In fact the original Reds were brought here by the Vikings. I feel we need to have people like you removed from the UK completely. We already have enough idiots.
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Tracy Bastow
1/11/2019 12:37:15 pm
Here here
Millie
31/12/2018 07:50:20 pm
8 young silver birch trees I picked up this morning in my woodland because grey squirrels had stripped the bark clean and caused so much damaged the trees fell over. Countless others have been stripped throughout the wood. Grey squirrels are having a devastating impact on trees.
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Philip Wookey
31/12/2018 08:18:44 pm
Utter nonsense, why write pure lies? I've lived with squirrels here for over 20 years, and they have never yet killed one tree in my garden or in the nearby wood. Red squirrels strip bark from trees too, in fact they are worse than Grey's. Grey squirrels burying their nuts are responsible for the growth of thousands of trees each year, do please get your facts straight before coming on here and writing codswallop.
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Iain McNab
31/12/2018 08:29:56 pm
Urban snowflakes posting about their gardens when foresters and conservationists are posting about the real harm the American Grey Squirrel does. 1/1/2019 12:40:33 am
With all the self-confessed rangers and conservationists crying tree damage, it was the Forestry Commission itself (no friend of grey squirrels) who absolved our bushy-tailed friends of the blame: the damage was found to be 5% in commercial forestry, with 30% being the thresh-hold of destruction. https://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/fcpn004.pdf/$file/fcpn004.pdf In natural woodland squirrels do not “damage” trees, they feed on them, which usually does the tree no harm, but provides food (fungi and insects) for birds. In the rare cases where the trees die they become a valuable wildlife habitat in their own right.
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Pete Coleman
1/1/2019 12:27:35 pm
All perfectly true, Natalia. Do people not realise that there is money to be made for the foresters and land owners by taking Government money for the killing and eradication of the grey squirrels. Back in history they did the same thing over the reds!
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Peter T
1/1/2019 04:01:48 pm
The simple truth is that over 3/4 of the country cannot provide suitable habitat for red squirrels to survive. If the persecution of the greys results in their extinction from the UK then there will be vast swathes of the country with no squirrels at all. That for me would be truly awful as it is so unnecessary.
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Val smith
1/1/2019 07:12:53 pm
Please leave them alone.
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Bernice
2/1/2019 07:38:09 am
Leave these beautiful creatures alone,humans always want cause persecution,
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2/1/2019 09:22:09 am
they all deserve to live, put them back out to carry on, I prob have signed it before, as I,ve signed so many other things for helping animals..
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Jens Lindqvist
2/1/2019 06:39:44 pm
The real threat to the Red squirrels are the negative effects we humans have on their natural habitat. Please do not fall into the dangerous mind trap setup of those who advocate killing of the grey squirrels. There are much more murkier motives behind that than the goal of helping the Eurasian red squirrels. Use your resources instead to promote awareness and help protect the natural habitat of the red squirrels. They need more and larger quality habitats that are protected and cared for. Red squirrels need more and larger forest areas to survive and colonise. The Eurasian red squirrel is better adopted to live in a denser forest with higher percentage of conifer trees than the grey squirrel. This is where the resources should be put into securing good habitat for them to live. Trying to kill the grey squirrels will not solve the problem that the red squirrels are facing today, and you will most likely create a larger problem in the process doing it. Open your mind, and educate yourself before acting. Actions based on hate and lack of knowledge belong in the past. We can do better and should!
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7/9/2020 01:33:35 am
I’ve just been reading up on grey squirrels as I saved a 6/7 week squirrel from a cat and I came across this site. After reading the new Act regarding the Grey squirrels, did I promptly give the squirrel back to the cat? NO! and how can any caring person be expected to do that, they won’t and they shouldn’t. Some people on this site are blaming poor little grey squirrels for killing the trees, HOW MANY TREES DO HUMANS KILL TO BUILD NEW HOUSES ON?? I ask myself, but that doesn’t matter, let’s blame the poor grey squirrels.
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