
The Squirrel Wars (2007) - jimsojim
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/magazine/07squirrels-t.html
======
m-i-l
_" especially during the Thatcher-Major years, when the British government re-
enthroned competition in Britain, the gray was left alone, and it extended its
range, at the expense of the red"_

I've seen Thatcher blamed for pretty much everything that is wrong with the
country today (and quite rightly so in my opinion) but I must admit this is
the first time I have seen her connected to the demise of the red squirrels.

Anyway, I grew up on the edge of a small town in the south of Scotland, and
have fond childhood memories of seeing the cute red squirrels playing in the
pine trees outside my kitchen window, so it does sadden me a little to see
grey squirrels in their place now.

One thing the article doesn't mention though is that part of the problem is
habitat loss - the red squirrels particularly like to eat seeds from pine
cones for example. And in my case most of the pine trees outside my old family
home's kitchen windows were blown down in various storms over the years.

As an aside, I did have a problem in London a few years back with grey
squirrels digging up my tulip bulbs. This is particularly surprising since I
live on the fourth floor and just have a small balcony rather than a garden,
so I don't quite know how they got there. But I saw them several times so I
knew it was them. I felt like I was under attack and that they were taunting
me. I was tempted to set up the solution described in "Militarizing Your
Backyard with Python: Computer Vision and the Squirrel Hordes" [0] (although
eventually went for the low tech solution of burying the bulbs below wire
mesh).

[0]
[https://us.pycon.org/2012/schedule/presentation/267/](https://us.pycon.org/2012/schedule/presentation/267/)

------
Terr_
> It is a war between rodents. Since the 19th century, gray squirrels, an
> American import, have been overtaking Britain’s native red squirrels and
> claiming their territory.

The Redcoats are... going?

> Parker is a professional pest controller from Newcastle. He keeps 300 dead
> grays in his freezer, seven of them skinned, waiting for the day he will
> have time to cook them.

That's not some sort of regional thing, is it?

~~~
cafard
Unless a very broadly defined region, no. I knew a man in the Washington, DC,
suburbs who got tired of squirrels getting into his bird feeder. He acquired a
pellet gun and stocked his freezer. I assume, based on my few dealings with
him, that he skinned the squirrels before freezing, and I'm pretty sure that
he cooked them.

------
mathattack
2015 mini-update -> [http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/red-squirrels-back-
uk-n...](http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/red-squirrels-back-uk-
natives-5465745)

------
jff
> Landed gentry kept grays in cages [...] A Mr. Brocklehurst, who had brought
> over gray squirrels from America, released two on his property near Cheshire
> in central England.

> Parker had said he wanted me to shoot the squirrel — that grays were in
> Britain was, after all, my fault as an American — and I did not want to.

I'd say it's more the fault of the squeamish toff standing next to him, given
that his ancestors may well have been among the original importers of the
greys.

