An urgent warning has been issued over the future of Merseyside's squirrels amid health concerns for the animals.
The ‘Saving Sefton’s Squirrels’ fundraiser has until the end of January to meet its target of £13,000. The red squirrel, found along the north Merseyside coast, faces local extinction without the vital funding towards the daily work of the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside.
Molly Frost, red squirrel officer for the Wildlife Trust, said: “The hard work of the local community and Lancashire Trust has allowed the red squirrel to survive here.
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“Funding for this project will help to reduce threats that endanger their population with the aim to create movement opportunities into new areas.
“Our project is vital to helping red squirrels survive and we rely on the support of our local community to do this. If we were to stop we would lose them very quickly.”
The current conservation efforts of the Wildlife Trust consists of work in local woodlands and monitoring the red squirrel. This is fundamental to their conservation: knowing the spread of red and grey squirrels allows the team to accurately concentrate their efforts.
The money raised will go towards continuing this work, and in particular the purchasing of 10 trail cameras. This will allow remote monitoring of the red squirrel by a larger group of volunteers, including those with accessibility issues or who are not local.
The red squirrels’ population is currently on the decline, as it faces constant competition from the grey squirrel.
Once found throughout the whole of the UK, the Merseyside coast is the southernmost habitat of the red squirrel now, with the lethal and highly contagious squirrel pox steadily depleting their population ever since the arrival of the US grey squirrel, which passes it to them.
The grey squirrel asymptomatically carries the squirrel pox, which is a virus transferred through saliva – for example, by sharing the same bird feeder – and has devastating consequences for their auburn counterpart.
The Wildlife Trust recommends that any feeders are regularly disinfected with wildlife safe disinfectant. The Trust also recommends reporting any sightings of a sick squirrel.
If you see a sick squirrel in your garden, take down and disinfect any contact points, and wait a few weeks before putting them back up again.
You can donate to the fundraising efforts here.
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