[anarchist23]

Red squirrel enthusiasts in the UK shoot grey squirrels in an attempt to protect the native species.
The approach is controversial and has led to accusations of racism and xenophobia.
Is it?

Since the 1950s, the number of native British red squirrels has fallen from around 3.5 million to an estimated 140,000.
This is due to competition and disease from grey squirrels, which were imported into the UK from North America in the 19th century.
Andrew Hodgkinson and Julie Bailey are among several red squirrel enthusiasts in the UK who shoot grey squirrels in an attempt to protect the native species. The approach is controversial and has led to accusations of racism and xenophobia.
However, supporters say they are promoting sustainability. Culled grey squirrels are sometimes used for clothing - and even stews and curries.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/magazine-4 ... -squirrels


But the grey squirrel has met its match.

Lindsey Maguire, 50, a co-ordinator with the National Squirrel Rescue team, said black squirrels were an increasingly common sight and it may be that the greys will get their "just desserts"

Mutant that threatens to wipe out grey squirrel.
The grey squirrel could become overrun in parts of Britain within 10 years by its faster, fitter and more aggressive black counterpart, researchers in Cambridge have heard.
More than 200 years since the grey was first introduced to Britain and began forcing out the native red squirrel, it now finds itself up against a more superior incarnation of the species.
The black squirrel – a genetic mutation of the grey – was first recorded in Britain 90 years ago but now accounts for half of all squirrels in some parts of the country.
They have higher testosterone levels, which is thought to make them more domineering and territorial, while their colouring makes them more attractive to female greys.
Their population growth in recent years is the greatest shift in squirrel demographics since red squirrels were effectively wiped out in 1958.
Helen McRobie, a geneticist, and Alison Thomas, a professor of life sciences, both from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, carried out the first nationwide study of black squirrels.
"The population is expanding across the region and is spreading further every year," said Mrs McRobie.
"They could overrun most of the eastern counties within 10 years.
"They can interbreed with grey squirrels as they are from the same species, unlike red squirrels.
"You can then have either a black squirrel or a brown mixture."
She said the black squirrel represented a further threat to the red.
"The small pockets of red squirrels that still exist already have to be protected because of the grey's dominance," she said.
"The black could be even worse. They will eat anything – insects, worms, you name it. The red will eat only matured nuts. They just can't compete."
Miss Thomas said: "The switch from a delicate, silver-toned coat to a dense black pelt occurs as a result of melanin pigments deposited in them during their development.
"A single genetic mutation can upset this balance, resulting in the over-production of the darker pigment and the birth of a black squirrel."
Miss Thomas said the first sighting of black squirrels occurred in 1912 and had been "very rare" until the last few years.
"There has been a population boom and they are due to overtake the grey squirrel population in some parts of the country," she said,
"They now make up 50 per cent of the squirrel population in the villages surrounding Cambridge and they are spilling over into Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire."
Lindsey Maguire, 50, a co-ordinator with the National Squirrel Rescue team, said black squirrels were an increasingly common sight and it may be that the greys will get their "just desserts".
"I wonder how long it will be before we see a 'save the grey' campaign," she said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1904182 ... irrel.html

[Ter]

Both the black and the grey squirrel are alien to the UK and should be culled as much as possible.
Extermination is the better option but not feasible.
Cats outside of houses should also be shot, strangled, poisoned and killed. They kill a billion song birds every year and they do not belong in Europe's ecosystem.

[anarchist23]

Cats outside of houses should also be shot, strangled, poisoned and killed. They kill a billion song birds every year and they do not belong in Europe's ecosystem.

This is the very reason we haven't had a cat for twenty years.

Cats that live in the wild or indoor pets allowed to roam outdoors kill from 1.4 billion to as many as 3.7 billion birds in the continental U.S. each year, says a new study that escalates a decades-old debate over the feline threat to native animals.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nat ... y/1873871/

[Potemkin]

Cats outside of houses should also be shot, strangled, poisoned and killed. They kill a billion song birds every year and they do not belong in Europe's ecosystem.

Neither do humans. What's your point?

Besides, I don't see the point of trying to protect so-called 'native' animals from more aggressive or fitter interlopers. This sort of population replacement has been going on since multicellular life itself first evolved 600 million years ago. When the North and South American continents collided three million years ago, it led to a mass extinction of South American species. Similar population replacements occurred when India collided with Asia and when Africa collided with Eurasia. As Saeko likes to remind us, the strong live and the weak die.

[SolarCross]

Neither do humans. What's your point?

Besides, I don't see the point of trying to protect so-called 'native' animals from more aggressive or fitter interlopers. This sort of population replacement has been going on since multicellular life itself first evolved 600 million years ago. When the North and South American continents collided three million years ago, it led to a mass extinction of South American species. Similar population replacements occurred when India collided with Asia and when Africa collided with Eurasia. As Saeko likes to remind us, the strong live and the weak die.

True but humans are the strongest of all and it is an expression of our strength to play gods with lesser animals by consigning some to culling and others to protection according to our own whim...

[Suntzu]

Squirrels are good eating. You can substitute kittens for squirrels in any squirrel recipe.

[Potemkin]

Squirrels are good eating. You can substitute kittens for squirrels in any squirrel recipe.

Alf approves of this post.

[mikema63]

Neither do humans. What's your point?

Besides, I don't see the point of trying to protect so-called 'native' animals from more aggressive or fitter interlopers. This sort of population replacement has been going on since multicellular life itself first evolved 600 million years ago. When the North and South American continents collided three million years ago, it led to a mass extinction of South American species. Similar population replacements occurred when India collided with Asia and when Africa collided with Eurasia. As Saeko likes to remind us, the strong live and the weak die.

I'm going to just point out that we should at least preserve native species and ecosystems at least long enough to find out if any of them are useful. As well as be careful to avoid negative consequences of our actions in this regard like introducing bastard clams to the US that clog up all our pipes in dams and costing us valuable time and money.

There can be a lot of negative consequences for human health and economies from these sorts of things and they shouldn't be treated with flippant dismissal.

[anarchist23]

As Saeko likes to remind us, the strong live and the weak die.

I don't know about that...

It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.

― Leon C. Megginson

[Potemkin]

It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.

...which is usually the strongest or the most intelligent. Lol. Seriously though, you have a point. The humble earthworm is neither particular strong nor particularly bright, yet it is one of the most successful organisms in the history of life on Earth. I was, of course, overstating my case.

[anarchist23]

The humble earthworm is neither particular strong nor particularly bright, yet it is one of the most successful organisms in the history of life on Earth.

Very true.

Worm-like animals are over a billion years old while human ancestors have been around for about six million years.

[mikema63]

We evolved from worms, we are basically very mutated worms when you get right down to it.

[Ter]

One cannot compare the natural migration and confrontations of species with the artificial release of organisms in ectopic locales.

Don't tell me that releasing tilapias in African lakes, or the lion fish in Florida, are welcome and natural phenomena that should run their course.

Yes, India slammed into Asia naturally, but the slamming took millions of years ; one should think that there was ample opportunity for local and alien species to adapt or migrate, or, failing that, get exterminated.

I'm going to just point out that we should at least preserve native species and ecosystems at least long enough to find out if any of them are useful

I think it must have been 1950 or thereabouts that we stopped thinking of species as being useful.
Native species are adapted to their ecosystem and removing them upsets the balance.
Nowadays there is a belief that some weed or something will have a magic molecule to cure cancer but that is not in my opinion the reason we should preserve all species as much as possible, in their own environment.

[mikema63]

You can think of life in anyway you wish. Nature doesn't care one way or another.

Ultimately we are just judging what we ought to do about it by one whim or another and the only thing that really matters is what we want. The universe, nature, and the things we destroy or protect don't really have any thoughts on the topic.

[Frollein]

Don't you want a multicultural environment anymore all of a sudden? I mean, the red squirrel just has to overcome its xenophobia and integrate into the new social mores of the invaders, I mean refugees.

[Ned Lud]

You can think of life in anyway you wish. Nature doesn't care one way or another.

Ultimately we are just judging what we ought to do about it by one whim or another and the only thing that really matters is what we want. The universe, nature, and the things we destroy or protect don't really have any thoughts on the topic.

Both the black and the grey squirrel are alien to the UK and should be culled as much as possible.
Extermination is the better option but not feasible.
Cats outside of houses should also be shot, strangled, poisoned and killed. They kill a billion song birds every year and they do not belong in Europe's ecosystem.

Red squirrels, like red opinions, are natural to Britain. Shoot the right-wing aliens!
Red squirrels, like red opinions, are native to Britain. Shoot the right-wing aliens!

[Igor Antunov]

There are no major Squirrel populations in Australia. I am safe, for now.