• Question: will red squirrels ever go extinct?

    Asked by speeddemon275 to Hywel, Joseph, Patience, Poonam, Rachael on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Joseph Cook

      Joseph Cook answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      It’s always possible for a species to become extinct. The most likely reason now for a species to go extinct is the actions of humans. The red squirrel is certainly at risk, mostly due to the introduction of the grey squirrel. Hopefully red squirrels will not become extinct due to the work of conservation groups.

    • Photo: Dr Hywel Jones

      Dr Hywel Jones answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      I’m not an expert on the ecology of red squirrels but of course any species (including us) can go extinct if there is enough change in their environment and the species is unable to adapt rapidly enough to these changes.

    • Photo: Poonam Kaushik

      Poonam Kaushik answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      The red squirrel is protected in most of Europe, as it is listed in Appendix III of the Bern Convention; it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. In some areas it is abundant and is hunted for its fur. Although not thought to be under any threat worldwide, the red squirrel has drastically reduced in number in the United Kingdom. Fewer than 140,000 individuals are thought to be left, approximately 85% of which are in Scotland. This population decrease is often ascribed to the introduction of the eastern grey squirrel from North America, but the loss and fragmentation of its native woodland habitat has also played a major role.
      In order to conserve the remaining numbers of the red squirrel, the UK government in January 2006 announced a mass culling programme for the eastern grey squirrel. This was welcomed by many conservation groups. An earlier cull of the eastern grey squirrel began in 1998 on the North Wales island of Anglesey. This facilitated the natural recovery of the remaining red squirrel populations and has been followed by the successful reintroduction of the red squirrel into Newborough Forest. The UK has established a local programme known as the “North East Scotland Biodiversity Partnership”, an element of the national Biodiversity Action Plan. This programme is administered by the Grampian Squirrel Society, with an aim of protecting the red squirrel; the programme centres on the Banchory and Cults areas. In 2008, the Scottish Wildlife Trust announced a four year project which commenced in the spring of 2009 called “Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels”.

      There are several other local conservation groups in the UK, for example, the Red Squirrel Conservation group in Mallerstang, Cumbria, and the National Trust reserve in Formby.
      Outside the UK and Ireland, the threat from the eastern grey squirrel comes from a population in Piedmont, Italy, where two pairs escaped from captivity in 1948. A significant drop in red squirrel populations in the area has been observed since 1970, and it is feared that the eastern grey squirrel may expand into the rest of Europe.

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