The War For Squirrel Nutkin
June 2, 2017 10:29 AM   Subscribe

 
I'll just wait for Doreen Green's opinion on this. (Although I wonder if it isn't impossible for someone to breed squirrelpox-resistant reds and mix them into the wild population.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:41 AM on June 2, 2017 [5 favorites]


I read this earlier and want to highlight this:

Opponents worry that killing greys is not just inhumane but tinged with xenophobia. The late Philip Pauly, an American historian of biology, believed there was an alignment between legislation to curb invasive species in the US, and the imposition of controls on human immigrants. California introduced a plant quarantine law in 1881; a year later came the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese immigrant labourers to the US. Over the last two decades, a rising concern for the future of native species in the developed world has coincided with growing nationalist feeling and hostility towards migrants.


Sort of fits in well with the smelly Spanish bluebells thing and the debate over which birds are really British and which aren't as part of the current atmosphere in Brexit Britain right now.
posted by vacapinta at 10:45 AM on June 2, 2017 [5 favorites]


Amusingly there is the probably false legend that part of the success of American forces during the Revolutionary War was due to superior armament and marksmanship developed for and from shooting squirrels.
posted by srboisvert at 10:58 AM on June 2, 2017 [7 favorites]


TBH I have no idea what I think about this, but teh article does a bloody good job covering all the angles. Good link.
posted by Artw at 11:00 AM on June 2, 2017 [6 favorites]


The late Philip Pauly, an American historian of biology, believed there was an alignment between legislation to curb invasive species in the US, and the imposition of controls on human immigrants.

As someone who's spent weekends pulling invasive plants out of wilderness reserves in California, I have to say that's one of the most idiotic statements I've heard on Metafilter. It's right up they're with the PETA people who were decrying the removal of wild pigs from the Santa Barbara Channel Islands.

It's not about nativism, it's a natter of trying to reduce the damage to the ecosystem.
posted by happyroach at 11:25 AM on June 2, 2017 [21 favorites]


Squirrelpox?!? That's the most adorable word for something so horrible I've heard all day.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:41 AM on June 2, 2017 [2 favorites]


As someone who's spent weekends pulling invasive plants out of wilderness reserves in California, I have to say that's one of the most idiotic statements I've heard on Metafilter.

As it happens, I also spend weekends pulling plants out of nature reserves. Heck, last weekend I was frightening geese away from settling in a pond because they can be very destructive. I've studied the distribution of fresh-water invertebrates (especially as they provide food for dippers) and local moss habitats and varieties (too much brachythecium is one conclusion!)

My point wasn't that these activities aren't necessary. What I am doing is questioning the motivations behind these people who gleefully shoot animals. And if you read my other links you'll see that the framing of these efforts can be horribly xenophobic. The "I don’t class these birds as British, so why are we listening to them?” is indefensible from any conservation angle.
posted by vacapinta at 12:14 PM on June 2, 2017 [8 favorites]


What I am doing is questioning the motivations behind these people who gleefully shoot animals.

Note also the paragraph right before the one you quoted:
Animal Aid fears that psychopaths will volunteer to kill squirrels, and believes that amateur red squirrel conservationists should be vetted, like people who work with children. Shuttleworth finds such fears overblown. Volunteers work in pairs, he told me. “We know where they are and what they are doing. Can we be sure someone doesn’t take a knitting needle and push it through the squirrel in the sack a hundred times? I can’t be sure, but it’s very unlikely. Why would they bother becoming a volunteer with a local group when you can go to a DIY store, buy a trap and legally trap as many grey squirrels as you want?”
There's definitely room to discuss both of these issues: Is this effort attracting or enabling future serial killers? Is it enabling xenophobes to take action against "foreign invaders" that will lead to them shooting Pakistanis? But these sorts of things also smack at least a little of Animal Aid throwing every argument they can against the wall to see what will stick.
posted by Etrigan at 12:37 PM on June 2, 2017 [7 favorites]


Lately every time I learn about a new issue I'm immediate thinking "CRISPR could fix this." In this case by making the red squirrels immune to the pox.

Then I think I might be a little too lasseiz fair with the genetic modifications...
posted by bracems at 1:13 PM on June 2, 2017 [3 favorites]


The thing is, hatred of grey squirrels, as a social phenomenon, really doesn't seem like it is motivated by serious concerns about the ecosystem. It's largely motivated, as far as I can tell, by a simple preference for the existence, in the UK, of red squirrels over grey, for no other reason than the notion that red squirrels are "native". I have met quite a few people with a passionate hatred of grey squirrels, and I'm really not convinced that their motivation has anything to do with ecology in any significant sense. I think they just don't like the fact that "grey squirrels aren't native". If they were really worried about ecologically damaging species, they'd surely be just as passionate (indeed moreso, in light of the fact that the overall ecological damage done by grey squirrels is probably quite limited, particularly in comparison) about culling muntjac deer, which do considerably more significant harm to woodland ecosystems than squirrels of any colour. But muntjac aren't perceived as stealing nuts from the mouths of hardworking British deer, and so they don't inspire anything like the same passion.

The parallel to anti-immigrant sentiment is not, in my view, entirely coincidental. I think that there's something akin to xenophobia in much hatred of grey squirrels. Concern about invasive species does not, in general, have that character (nor is all concern about greys motivated or defined by this general trend), but I think that this particular phenomenon, by and large, does.
posted by howfar at 1:15 PM on June 2, 2017 [10 favorites]


Wait til you get a nest of squirrels in your attic. Your hate will be color blind.
posted by notreally at 1:22 PM on June 2, 2017 [4 favorites]


Squirrelpox?!? That's the most adorable word for something so horrible I've heard all day.

The grey squirrels handed out tiny little blankets.
posted by Artw at 1:27 PM on June 2, 2017 [20 favorites]


I had read about this before visiting England for the first time, so I was surprised to see several little old ladies and men enthusiastically feeding grey squirrels in London parks. But the chicken keeper in the Cotswolds made up for it with vehement tales of how terrible they were for trees and red squirrels.
posted by PussKillian at 2:44 PM on June 2, 2017


TBH I didn't know there were so many hold-out areas of red squirrels. Squirrel == Grey squirrel everywhere I've lived.
posted by Artw at 2:58 PM on June 2, 2017


Squirrels will chew through your house, nest in your attic, chew stuff up, and pee on everything. I had to hire a squirrel wrangler. He didn't wear chaps or bolo tie, and I suppose his cap with company name qualifies as a squirrel wrangling hat, but I was disappointed. He took the squirrels away, though.
posted by theora55 at 3:02 PM on June 2, 2017 [3 favorites]


I had to hire a squirrel wrangler. He didn't wear chaps or bolo tie, and I suppose his cap with company name qualifies as a squirrel wrangling hat, but I was disappointed.

But surely his tiny little lasso and his cocktail fork branding iron went a long way in the atmosphere department.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:15 PM on June 2, 2017 [11 favorites]


TBH I didn't know there were so many hold-out areas of red squirrels. Squirrel == Grey squirrel everywhere I've lived.

I remember being told that they tend to outcompete grey squirrels in areas heavily dominated by coniferous trees. I also remember being really surprised, in Finland, to see urban red squirrels behaving in exactly the same confident and relaxed manner as grey squirrels. Certainly grey squirrels have not made any substantial inroads into red squirrel populations on a global basis, which I think can sometimes be hard for British people to believe, given that we're all raised with the understanding that red squirrels are doomed, without necessarily much perspective on what the scope of the threat actually is.
posted by howfar at 3:29 PM on June 2, 2017 [1 favorite]


Most of the reds seem to be in Scotland, if they wipe out the grey I'm not going to be seeing another squirrel in Cornwall for the rest of my life.
posted by biffa at 4:01 PM on June 2, 2017


Hating introduced species seems pretty arbitrary to me. Most of our plant or animal food isn't being grown where it originated. Native species can be pests, just think of Canada geese or turkeys

And you can go out and shoot squirrels or starlings or spray Round Up on invasive weeds but it is very unlikely that they're ever going to go away. It seems a bit like busywork, it's being done for reasons other than the stated ones.
posted by Bee'sWing at 4:37 PM on June 2, 2017 [1 favorite]


Here's a George Monbiot ecosystem analysis of how to make red squirrels dominant again. Obviously, being George Monbiot, it's strongly biased towards the solution being to stop gamekeepers from shooting predators, in this case pine martens, but there's lots of detail in it. Including the claim that grey squirrels overgraze newly established woodland and reduce diversity that way.
posted by ambrosen at 4:39 PM on June 2, 2017 [1 favorite]


Being familiar with the damage done to various Australian ecosystems by rabbits, foxes, goats, cane toads, european wasps, fire ants, cats and various other exotic pests, I have nothing but admiration for the grey squirrel control volunteers.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 8:01 PM on June 2, 2017 [7 favorites]


The grey squirrel haters I've encountered in the south of England are all gardeners, who call them "tree-rats". My father was a professional gardener, and shot them on sight, mainly because of the inroads they made into his strawberry beds. Long after the government bounty on grey squirrel tails (free cartridges!) was abandoned, he still collected their tails - the half-door of the old stable he used as a potting shed was covered in rows of them; when he reached the bottom of the door, he started again at the top. the hatred has extended over three generations so far - I don't have a large enough garden to be affected, but my brother keeps up the battle . a few years ago, he returned from a tour in Afghanistan, saw one in the garden and ran upstairs to shoot it from the bedroom window (he's only allowed an air-rifle here in town, but he's a bloody good shot), and only then took off his coat and had some tea.

Here in London, the park squirrels, like the city foxes, are very plump and secure, and are often fed by people. In Russell Square, if you look as if you might have some peanuts, a fat squirrel will come up to you and actually tug on the leg of your trousers to get your attention. The Brother's comment on these, when he saw it was "good eating on one of those". Come to think of it, one of my local supermarkets used to sell dressed grey squirrel in their game section. They looked just like small rabbits, but since they cost the same as a whole rabbit and were half the size, I never bothered trying them. According to The Brother they are tasty if a little dry and best in a stew.
posted by Fuchsoid at 8:03 PM on June 2, 2017 [5 favorites]


Of course, the other reason people prefer reds to greys is that the reds are absolutely adorable. I think if may be the little ear-tufts.
posted by Fuchsoid at 8:11 PM on June 2, 2017 [4 favorites]


There was a whole generation of children who where taught to safely cross the road by Tufty the squirrel. I'm sure that might have influence, if only subconsciously.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:20 AM on June 3, 2017 [1 favorite]


Reds and greys are roughly equal in mix out here, but I've seen fewer reds the last couple of years. Greys are a tough meal for a feral cat, from what I hear, while the smaller reds are easier to take, so where there are cats there are greys.

I'm pretty sure an uplift of greys is coming in my yard. I've had a grey quietly studying my bird feeder with its anti-squirrel barrier for three straight days now, from pretty much every branch of the tree and from several vantage points on the ground. I'm expecting it to wheel up a large wooden bird.
posted by maxwelton at 2:49 AM on June 3, 2017 [2 favorites]


Evidence.
posted by maxwelton at 2:55 AM on June 3, 2017


If they were really worried about ecologically damaging species, they'd surely be just as passionate (indeed moreso, in light of the fact that the overall ecological damage done by grey squirrels is probably quite limited, particularly in comparison) about culling muntjac deer, which do considerably more significant harm to woodland ecosystems than squirrels of any color.

I think there's a real risk of not just policing goals but also of people's underlying motives. Can attempts to exterminate invasive species stem from xenophobia? Sure, I guess. The land doesn't "look" right, or the animal is the wrong color. But that doesn't mean that the extermination effort isn't necessary. Invasive species that aren't fought due to fears of flaming xenophobia are just as invasive as those that aren't fought due to public apathy.
posted by steady-state strawberry at 5:27 AM on June 3, 2017 [1 favorite]


Invasive species that aren't fought due to fears of flaming xenophobia are just as invasive as those that aren't fought due to public apathy.

I understand your concern, but I'm not sure that this is actually true in all cases.

In particular, I don't think that, from an ecosystemic perspective, grey squirrels are properly understood as being as invasive as muntjac. Grey squirrels occupy a similar niche, with similar behaviours and environmental impact, as red squirrels. There is, as I understand it, some evidence that greys are somewhat more detrimental in their bark-stripping behaviour, in British woodlands, than reds are in the same behaviour, but that they are not a major threat to the health and diversity of the system, while muntjac, due to being highly aggressive bark strippers, are.

There is, from the point of view of successful environmental work and activism, a problem with the kind of thinking which equates "non-native" and "detrimentally invasive" on a one to one basis, when the relationships between the two things are actually complex and often unclear, and differ from species to species and ecosystem to ecosystem.
posted by howfar at 5:47 AM on June 3, 2017 [2 favorites]


  tree-rats

Fuchsoid's tale of squirrel loathing seems tame compared to the glis-hatred I experienced in Hertfordshire. You were in for a hard time if you accidentally said “dormouse” down the pub.

No mention again in the article about habitat reduction for red squirrels. That would require us to be the bad guys, of course. Maybe the UK just needs some proper red squirrels?
posted by scruss at 8:26 AM on June 3, 2017


Interesting link! I have never seen a red squirrel in London. Just today a grey squirrel tried to get into my house - they are utterly fearless as a result of associating, I suppose, human beings with food. I closed the patio door, and it just stood there on its hind legs staring at me through the glass, wringing its little hands. Absurdly cute if you're into that, I suppose, but having been charged once too many times by a fat, fearless, greedy grey I was unmoved. I think of them as like the furry equivalent of urban pigeons.
posted by Ziggy500 at 2:40 PM on June 3, 2017


As an Australian, I readily trap and kill red foxes, tan and grey rabbits and all shades of feral cat. The total elimination of these introduced species by any and all means is something I would celebrate. No idea what that says about my racial politics.
posted by wilful at 3:24 PM on June 3, 2017


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