Formby’s red squirrels fighting back from verge of extinction

Jul 13 2009 by Ian Hernon, Liverpool Daily Post

MERSEYSIDE’S threatened red squirrels are bouncing back from the verge of extinction.

Conservationists are reporting the region’s population has survived a savage 85% decline to between 100 and 150 since 2006.

The breeding season is proving successful and experts are hoping to see a surge in numbers in the coming months.

And the controversial culling of grey squirrels responsible for the reds’ decline is being extended.

A control zone previously neighbouring the Formby Point reserve around Formby has more than doubled to take in St Helens, Kirkby, Ormskirk, Burscough and Tarleton.

Joshua Perry, of the Red Squirrel Survival Trust, said: “Until now all has appeared doom and gloom – but at last the reds are fighting back.

“For the first time we are seeing not just a stabilisation in their population, but the signs of growth.”

Key factors include a good winter which has increased the stock of squirrel food, and the end of a pox which devastated them in 2007-08.

But the chief factor has been the more widespread culling of rival greys, something which has not met with universal approval from conservationists.

“We know that this has been a controversial issue,” Mr Perry said, “but there is now general public acceptance that for the reds to survive the greys have to be controlled.

“We take no delight in culling animals, but the greys are vermin, rats with good PR, and removing them from reds’ habitats is the only way.”