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Red squirrels expand across Highlands after 10-year reintroduction drive (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 2 days ago by GreyShuck@feddit.uk to c/nature@feddit.uk

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Red squirrels have expanded their range across the Highlands by more than a quarter after a 10-year reintroduction programme moved hundreds to new homes.

The species once came close to extinction in Britain when foresters killed them as pests and their natural habitat was destroyed. A deadly virus carried by invasive grey squirrels has hampered their recovery.

Scotland is the red’s heartland, home to 80% of the UK’s population of about 200,000. The reintroduction project, run by the rewilding charity Trees for Life, has established more than a dozen thriving new sites, from Ullapool to Morvern to Lairg.

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[–] Rothe@piefed.social 7 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The species once came close to extinction in Britain when foresters killed them as pests

It is ridiculous that anyone at any time would seriously consider calling the Eurasian red squirrel a pest.

[–] tetris11@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago

I mean, have you met foxes? Yeah they're cute. And yeah there's way too many of them in the capital

[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I see your ridiculousness, and I raise it to Mao with the sparrows.

[–] Rothe@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago

I see your point in pure numbers killed, but I actually don't think it is raising it. Sparrows are herd creatures, living off of basically the same cereal crops as humans, with no problem living in urban environments close to humans. A point could be made, a very bad one mind you, that sparrows are pests who wants to eat our food, if you are an insane and moronic dictator eager to point the blame at someone else for your own failings.

But the Eurasian red squirrels are mostly solitary and extremely shy creatures, who mostly feeds off of pine cones, and wants as little to do with humans as possible. You are not going to see them invade your home turf and eating your food, unless possibly if you are some kind of nut farmer. But that is obviously not what happened in Scotland.