Poor Grey Squirrel :(

No i don't think they should eradicate them, i know they are a 'pest' in some places but they are all Gods creatures and have a right to be here just as much as anything else!

Thanx 4 your Comment SK as u know i love all Creatures Great & Small & dont think its rite either ,

Jacque ...Jane here.You already know our views on squirrels be they red or grey,and as you so rightly point out the grey was introduced into this country anyway so why should it be penalised ? : (

Yes i do Jane/Ray & im so glad its the same as mine & SKs :)

I do understand why some people believe that the grey squirrel should be eradicated but as for my opinion, for what it's worth is that if man has introduced it into this country then it should be allowed to survive. After all it is man who has made the biggest mess of things, not animals so perhaps he should be eradicated starting with Prince Charles. I'm not sure why anyone should take notice of him anyway. He seems to think he knows about everything but who asked his opinion anyway? Does being a prince mean that you should be listened to? He is such a friend of nature that he goes out shooting pheasants and grouse every year on the pretext that it is the shooting community that ensures the survival of the species. Perhaps it has never occured to him that the pheasant is not native to this country but originates from China. His arguments on what should or shouldn't survive are based on his own selfish opinions.

Being a King/Queen/Prince/Princess dont make them Gods is my veiw on this Toto& its once again Mans Doing " No Offence Goy Male Members "

Please don't worry about offending Jacque. I feel the same but if others have different views they are just as entitled to them as we are of ours.

That is so true Toto but how i wish we all felt the same on this 1 :/

baz says they should eradicate prince charles lol, think i agree, they are here and i do feel for the red squirrel but that no excuse for murder is it,, like you said jacque its not the squirrels fault its here,,grrr

LOL o San your Baz put a Smile on My Face saying that lol ,

he doesnt say to much but when he does it makes me smile to :o)

LOL :)

I enjoy and am amused with the grey squirrel that visits us and respect all wildlife. Man is destroying natures balance, our of greed, couldnt care less, or pure ignorance. I am forever signing petitions for protecting wildlife and the environment, most recent for banning cruel snares, want more gruelling news on what the Royal Estate is involved with read this http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/may/25/gamekeeper-balmoral-prosecuted-wildlife-traps

Outrageous, I hope he gets caught in one of his own traps. Low life.

Sorry Norfolk but nothing will happen to him as he is employed by so called "important people" Money and position counts. Just ask any politition.

OMG i cant believe he was re-employed Norfolk :/ & i thought Traps had been completely Banned years ago not made So Called More Wildlife Friendly :(

Those laws were only for common people Jacque, not for the rich, famous and priviledged. I refer to my previous comment about polititions. If you make the rules, how can you break them?

:(

I 'ditto' all the above points of view. I think GoY members could form a better government than anything we currently have. How about it - who wants to be Prime Minister?

LOL we dont need 1 Prime Minister Gee we need a new way of life so we all get to put our veiws across Good Or Bad & get something done 4 a change :) lol

if it had a smooth tail and was brown [rat] would you feel the same. many of us erradicate slugs/ snails/ lily beetle as they damage our flowers not even food stuffs, so what is the difference?
I personally would erradicate the grey as they are not a british native and do destroy the habitat of the native red. we have called then rats with fluffy tails for years. humans have messed up so much even in the plant world. japanese knotweed for instance. shouldnt we try to restore the balance? probably not a popular view but perhaps realistic.

I think its 2 late to correct the Balance SeaB :( & sadly itl take more than culling the Grey Squirrel 2 make it rite again :( If it was that easy id have every Insect,Creature ect ect Killed to Make The World /Planet all better again as im sure many others would also do !

just a bit confused and it could be due to my location. Is your red squirrel different than our red squirrel? We have both red and grey squirrels and believe me there is no consern of either disappearing becuse of the other. In fact I have a picture of a squirrel the I think may be a hybrid??

I'm with you Seaburngirl. I'm also a happy eradicator of slugs and snails otherwise I'd have no vegetables left to eat in my garden and, after reading about the native red squirrels dying due to a disease borne by grey squirrels AND having had damage done to my house by a trespassing grey, I'm in full agreement with culling them! Nor am I squeamish - if I was a good shot I'd do the job myself but I'd miss every time! Councils are still using traps. I got in touch with the Council when we had one nesting in our loft, but we managed to chase it out and block up the entrance hole before the trap could arrive. Look how the American Crayfish are now decimating the British species and Mink are causing all kinds of havoc amongst water birds and mammals. Britain has its own species - other countries have their own species; let's keep it like that.

Yes Nariz its all so terrible isnt it:/ but how many years do u think itd take 2 remove all those Animals,Insects ect that dont belong here in Uk ? Or Other Insects ect in other countrys? Have u wondered if its all happening because its got to ? They say things happen 4 a reason here in UK , The World is Evolving all the time since the very begining & If Animals Insect are Removed from all countrys where they dont belong then how long b4 Man himself is removed in the same way ? :/

i caught the item about Prince Charles on the news last night, i think this is an absurd idea, where does he think these things up.
i know some folk would love to eradicate snails and slugs but just remember our birds eat these , if the snails and slugs were gone then maybe we would lost our birds too

Thats why i say things happen 4 a reason Eileen & Many Pest are helping others not just killing or being a PEST !

aye, im sure at some point someone thought bee's were a pest and now look whats happened

I don't think we'd ever be able to eradicate the tree rats but they do need controlling or we will lose our indigenous wildlife. There are a lot of recipes online if you Google it.

The same applies to the Myoxus Glis or Glis Glis, the edible dormouse which was a favourite dish of the Romans. This was introduced by Lord Rothschild in 1902 and is now rampaging through the Chilterns. You know when it's in your house as it wears hob-nailed boots and tramps around above your head in the middle of the night. It's favourite diet seems to be electric cables and it loves sharpening it's teeth on copper water pipes. If you use a humane trap to catch it you are not permitted to release it into the wild, destruction is the only option.

I would like to say that I understand and respect all of the opinions posted and there may be an argument for control, not only of the grey sqirrel, but of other species too. Control is no the same as eradication.
This world is so mixed up that people don't properly research what they are doing before they jump in with both feet. Don't forget that the mink was released, not only by the fur trade when the bottom fell out of the market but before that by so called animal liberationists who hadn't got a clue what they were doing.
As for Prince Charles, one should remember that insanity has infiltrated the so called "Royals" many time in the past.

I agree with all you say Jacque, its not the poor grey squirrels fault that its here, its a pitty somehow or other they can't do something to stop the grey coming to far up the country, so the red could survive better, i know there trying to do that, but not doing it very well, you know although i love to see the red squirrel, the grey's are so much friendly, i feel sorry for both of them.

Hi Clarice /Toto im sure something will be done either way .

Well lets hope its not a bad one.

What ever they choose to do Clarice i dont think the Public will get to hear much about it as it may cause alot of bother with Animal Lovers

well seems some are quick to eradicate some animals even though its not their fault they are here, but thats nature, but why dont they jump in quick and eradicate some of the terrible people who live amongst us, child killers etc,, think thats alot worse than loosing a few veg or plants, dont you,, i love my plants but nature is nature, a life on the other hand !

Here, here Sanbaz.

thanx wagger :o)

You're very welcome.

What a silly irresponsible statement to make from someone in his position ( Prince Charles ..not you Wagger lol ) .

It will give carte blanche to anyone with a taste for inflicting cruelty on such animals - love them or loathe them they deserve to be treated humanely .

As Patron of the Red squirrel survival trust he should insist upon evidence of greys becoming a threat and any culling should only be carried out by licensed operatives.Anyone else doing this should be prosecuted under animal cruelty.

As for trees he is choosing to airbrush history and quoting a few random escapees for their mass explosion throughout the country .

He neglects to mention the numerous planned releases especially after the first world war when greys were valued for their habit of burying beech and oak seeds .Something the red does not do.

Many agricultural and forestry workers were lost during the Great war and the grey squirrel planted far more trees through forgotten nuts than those they damage.

Poor forestry planning and mismanagement of the enviroment by man has led to this .

Perhaps if he held his hands up and admitted the Royals culpability on their vast estates in the past , his views would be more widely respected and carry more weight.

I thought grey squirrels were under threat anyway? Wasn't there an article on a new type of squirrel now?

*methinks I'm going insane!* *nutty, nutty, nutty!!!*

Well they are now Craftnutter - Prince Charles has given the Royal seal of eradication..can just see the vans touring the country Squirrel exterminator by appointment to HRH

The Royals will hunt anything, heartless and not in the real world. The squirrels will be safe in my garden.

this really is a hot subject lol ive just had an argument about this with someone , not on this site id like to point out lol

Aye Dawn - think many of us realise that all sorts of animals are culled but ignorance leads to cruelty and there will be some who use these comments to justify eradication by any means .

Doesnt that drive you nuts Eileen? ..someone says something contentious Jacque goes to the trouble of writing a blog we all respond you d think the least he could do is answer us ..so rude.

Well he wont be getting my vote ..

drive me nuts BB............. lol was that a deliberate pun lol.

aye so rude no to reply, its not as if he even has to do it all by himself

Aye he ll have dog breeders up in arms next when he hears so many Afghans heading our way ...

lmao brilliant BB

Perhaps being a little harsh on him Eileen ..after all Prince Philip is his Dad so guess you could say hes been genetically modified .

that is putting it very politely BB

Aye Eileen for a member of the Royal family to condemn introduced species is a bit much .. has he not read back through his own roots ?

Oh dear poor Jacque not sure she expected all this when put the blog on sorry Jacque ..I ll shut up now .lol

lol im sure Jacque wont mind us having a wee rant

Please don't shut up Bonkers, or you Irish. I find myself agreeing with every thing you say.
Strange that he doesn't seem to want to eradicate pheasant's though, infact he supports the breeding of them. I wonder why that is. I'm glad he is such a well known nature lover and not at all biased.

well Toto thank your lucky stars he doesnt want to eradicate Pheasants cos with our luck he would mispell the order and us Peasants would be done for lol

Oh Eileen .. LOL Thanks Toto just worried that turning into such a grumpy so and so with so much to rant about ..Politicians , Bankers now this OMG so long as we can laugh too then cant be all bad , can it ?

A good laugh is the best thing of all bonkers. What's the point of getting older if you can't get grumpier?
Think I'll keep my head down Irish.

Rant whos ranting on my Blog LOL :) No i want 2 hear the Thoughts on this matter ,i just wish we lived in a Better world were everything/1 lived happily together .

It would be a better world if people didn't always think they know better than mother nature Jacque. Who is man to say what should live and what should die? Plain bloody arrogance I say.

I wonder when Man took the Planet from Mother Nature Toto ? I think time has changed every thing 4 the worst ,O yes life is so much easier but @ a cost to The Enviroment :( They say the World will Heal itself buy doing something Big like the Ice Age Toto !

Perhaps it will Jacque. One thing's for sure, it will do a much better job of it than man will. What goes around comes around, it is said. Like all this global warming that the governments of the world, especially ours, has latched on to as a means of raising more taxes. During the history of the world the British Isles has been a desert, a tropical rain forest and an ice field and the poles have been covered in forests. I can understand why we had the last ice age as it was caused by all those dinosaurs rushing around in their four by fours and in those days the petrol and diesel was not as refined as it is now. The climates have changed without our help, but no-one was around to levy taxes at the time Aristotlesaurus and his pals had no concept of money and no need to get mortgages on the second homes. Infact crime was relatively low except for the odd murder of dinosaurs like Politicalsaurus. Everyone had to eat after all.

I personally would not like to eradicate grey squirrels for the amount of damage they do is far exceeded by the pleasure they bring when walking round a nice garden park or woodland especially for the children of which i think i still am still one in such circumstances feeding them peanuts and the like I say lets keep them and enjoy the m in future generations kev