Gray squirrels are unintentionally slowing down the efforts the UK is making to stop climate change.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himIn addition to compromising the welfare of other animal species, gray squirrels are unwittingly slowing down the UK's efforts to plant thousands of trees to stop climate change.
North American gray squirrels were introduced to the UK by humans in the 1,8th century. Victorian landowners at the time considered them hardy, docile and exotic animals. Now they pose a threat to local flora and fauna and the damage they cause to UK forests along with other invasive species cost the island state's economy £ XNUMX billion annually. (READ also: Pablo Escobar's hippos have colonized the rivers of Colombia. And now they want to cull them all)
So the UK has decided to launch a mass sterilization campaign in which the approximately 3 million gray squirrels living in the state will fall victim to contraceptive traps. The plan is deceptively simple: it's all about luring the species in boxes full of hazelnut creamenriched by an oral contraceptive. In this way, they will be sterilized one by one without having to attack the life of these animals.
After becoming a species harmful to local flora and fauna, gray squirrels have also become a major concern for conservationists and biologists. For this reason, the British state is not alone in the effort for the mass sterilization. Even the UK Squirrel Accord (UKSA), one of the country's leading conservation and forestry organizations, has been pursuing the same goal for three years.
Recently, Environment Minister Lord Goldsmith said that, in addition to compromising the welfare of other animal species, invading squirrels are inadvertently holding back the state's efforts to stop climate change by planting thousands of acres of new woodland. These rodents tear the bark of trees to build their nests, damaging the woods.
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“Non-native invasive species such as gray squirrels and others such as muntjacs clearly threaten our native biodiversity. They cost the economy around £ 1,8 billion a year and negatively impact our trees and forests, ”explains Goldsmith.
The color of squirrels in the UKThe gray squirrel from the United States is considered an ecological threat in the United Kingdom. In addition to being a foreign invader and causing severe damage to trees, it negatively impacts its lesser relative, lo red squirrel.
While red squirrels are a native species recognized and protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, their gray relatives are classified as an invasive alien species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN, for its acronym in English). For this reason, organizations such as the Red Squirrels Trust Wales or Reclaiming Reds, committed to the protection of native species, have often decided to sacrifice gray squirrels.
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Several animal rights activists, such as Liz Sullivan, protested at the cruel and shameful action of killing gray squirrel populations, which was also considered wrong as it normalized violence against wildlife.
"One of the methods they are employing is to encourage members of the public to lend traps and they are training people to catch and kill gray squirrels," Sullivan said.
Everyone recognizes the need to manage gray squirrel populations, so faced with the alternative of killing, even those who defend the welfare of the gray squirrel support the initiative to limit animals with contraceptives.
“It's better than the alternative: a shotgun,” says Jason Gilchrist, an ecologist at Napier University in Edinburgh.
Fonti: BBC News / DW / National Geographic
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