A shrew caught by a cat in Sunderland has proved to be the first of its species to be found in Britain.
The Great White-toothed shrew, which has an uncanny resemblance to the TV Clangers characters, is found in Continental Europe and the Channel Islands but - until now - not the UK. It is also an invasive species in Ireland. If it is part of an established population, it would be the first new mammal species in Britain since American mink spread after escaping from captivity in the 1920s.
Now naturalist Melissa Young - whose cat Jeff caught the shrew - is appealing for help from the public to help in a project to see if more of the shrews can be found.
She said: “I would like to get as many people as possible involved as possible. It is a brilliant opportunity for the public and cat owners to be part of a citizen science project.
“I don’t know how the shrew would have got to Sunderland.”
Melissa, who is part of Durham Bat Group and volunteers with Washington Wetland Centre, also plans to conduct live trapping under licence and use bat detectors, which can pick up noises made by shrews. If more shrews are found the Sunderland population would be the most northerly of the species in the world.
Jeff, says Melissa, is an ex-feral cat who is “very friendly and very cheeky.” He did not kill the shrew he caught and Melissa wrapped it in a blanket, but it later died. She posted a picture on social media and it caught the attention of North East ecologist Ian Bond.
He contacted Melissa to say it looked like a Great White-toothed shrew. As a result, she kept the shrew in her freezer until a DNA test could be carried out.
Mr Bond said: ‘White-toothed shrews look fairly distinctive with a head more closely resembling Finger Mouse or the Clangers than a normal shrew. The problem with that identification was that they have never occurred on the British mainland before.”
The DNA test, undertaken by Ecotype Genetics and Swift Ecology Ltd, confirmed it to be the Greater White-toothed shrew.
The Mammal Society’s Allan McDevitt said: “This is a worrying development as this invasive shrew is clearly associated with the local disappearance of the native pygmy shrew in Ireland. It is known to outcompete other species of shrews on other islands, so it is urgent that its distribution and potential impacts on other shrew species is quickly investigated.”
Unusual shrew sightings with photographs can be submitted via Mammal Mapper (the Mammal Society’s app) or on iRecord. The link for the mammal mapper app is https://www.mammal.org.uk/volunteering/mammal-mapper/
Gavin Measures, invasive non-native species lead at Natural England, said: “This is an example of how important it is to be vigilant for invasive species in our gardens, parks and green spaces. We encourage everyone to take part in citizen science as it supports the vital work of Natural England to protect the environment.
“This non-native shrew has had a negative effect on the Irish ecosystem. Evidence of this species in the UK now requires further investigation to establish how widespread it is, and any possible impact on our small mammal community.”
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