Grey squirrels go on the pill to save their red cousins

Grey squirrels go on the pill to save their red cousins

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. Lord Benyon, the environment minister, 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 ". Vital progress on managing grey squirrel numbers 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 said. Apha says it has a feeder with a weighted door that excludes most other wildlife, while allowing more than 70 per cent of