A Government-approved scheme to see if oral contraception can be used to cut the number of Britain’s grey squirrels is producing hopeful results, researchers have said. Environment minister Lord Benyon described invasive grey squirrels as “pests” who cause “untold damage in the British countryside”.
He said a new way could be found to deal with them through work being done by the UK Squirrel Accord (UKSA) and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (Apha). Lord Benyon said that “important research on oral contraception shows promising signs that could help to eradicate the grey squirrel in the UK in a non-lethal way, as well as helping to recover our beloved red squirrel”.
UKSA-funded laboratory trials have been looking into an oral contraceptive as a non-lethal way to manage grey squirrels along with special feeding sites that can only be accessed by them. Vital progress has been made in the effort to find ways to isolate the squirrels so they may then be able to take the contraceptive, researchers say.
