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The Squirrel Wars (2007)

21 points by jimsojim 11y ago

mathattack 11y ago
2015 mini-update -> http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/red-squirrels-back-uk-natives-5465745 http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/red-squirrels-back-uk-n...
Terr_ 11y ago
> It is a war between rodents. Since the 19th century, gray squirrels, an American import, have been overtaking Britain’s native red squirrels and claiming their territory. The Redcoats are... going? > Parker is a professional pest controller from Newcastle. He keeps 300 dead grays in his freezer, seven of them skinned, waiting for the day he will have time to cook them. That's not some sort of regional thing, is it?
- cafard 11y ago
  Unless a very broadly defined region, no. I knew a man in the Washington, DC, suburbs who got tired of squirrels getting into his bird feeder. He acquired a pellet gun and stocked his freezer. I assume, based on my few dealings with him, that he skinned the squirrels before freezing, and I'm pretty sure that he cooked them.
m-i-l 11y ago
"especially during the Thatcher-Major years, when the British government re-enthroned competition in Britain, the gray was left alone, and it extended its range, at the expense of the red" I've seen Thatcher blamed for pretty much everything that is wrong with the country today (and quite rightly so in my opinion) but I must admit this is the first time I have seen her connected to the demise of the red squirrels. Anyway, I grew up on the edge of a small town in the south of Scotland, and have fond childhood memories of seeing the cute red squirrels playing in the pine trees outside my kitchen window, so it does sadden me a little to see grey squirrels in their place now. One thing the article doesn't mention though is that part of the problem is habitat loss - the red squirrels particularly like to eat seeds from pine cones for example. And in my case most of the pine trees outside my old family home's kitchen windows were blown down in various storms over the years. As an aside, I did have a problem in London a few years back with grey squirrels digging up my tulip bulbs. This is particularly surprising since I live on the fourth floor and just have a small balcony rather than a garden, so I don't quite know how they got there. But I saw them several times so I knew it was them. I felt like I was under attack and that they were taunting me. I was tempted to set up the solution described in "Militarizing Your Backyard with Python: Computer Vision and the Squirrel Hordes" [0] (although eventually went for the low tech solution of burying the bulbs below wire mesh). [0] https://us.pycon.org/2012/schedule/presentation/267/ https://us.pycon.org/2012/schedule/presentation/267/
jff 11y ago
> Landed gentry kept grays in cages [...] A Mr. Brocklehurst, who had brought over gray squirrels from America, released two on his property near Cheshire in central England. > Parker had said he wanted me to shoot the squirrel — that grays were in Britain was, after all, my fault as an American — and I did not want to. I'd say it's more the fault of the squeamish toff standing next to him, given that his ancestors may well have been among the original importers of the greys.

21 points by jimsojim 11y ago

2015 mini-update -> http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/red-squirrels-back-uk-natives-5465745 http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/red-squirrels-back-uk-n...

Terr_ 11y ago

> It is a war between rodents. Since the 19th century, gray squirrels, an American import, have been overtaking Britain’s native red squirrels and claiming their territory. The Redcoats are... going? > Parker is a professional pest controller from Newcastle. He keeps 300 dead grays in his freezer, seven of them skinned, waiting for the day he will have time to cook them. That's not some sort of regional thing, is it?

cafard 11y ago
Unless a very broadly defined region, no. I knew a man in the Washington, DC, suburbs who got tired of squirrels getting into his bird feeder. He acquired a pellet gun and stocked his freezer. I assume, based on my few dealings with him, that he skinned the squirrels before freezing, and I'm pretty sure that he cooked them.

m-i-l 11y ago

"especially during the Thatcher-Major years, when the British government re-enthroned competition in Britain, the gray was left alone, and it extended its range, at the expense of the red" I've seen Thatcher blamed for pretty much everything that is wrong with the country today (and quite rightly so in my opinion) but I must admit this is the first time I have seen her connected to the demise of the red squirrels. Anyway, I grew up on the edge of a small town in the south of Scotland, and have fond childhood memories of seeing the cute red squirrels playing in the pine trees outside my kitchen window, so it does sadden me a little to see grey squirrels in their place now. One thing the article doesn't mention though is that part of the problem is habitat loss - the red squirrels particularly like to eat seeds from pine cones for example. And in my case most of the pine trees outside my old family home's kitchen windows were blown down in various storms over the years. As an aside, I did have a problem in London a few years back with grey squirrels digging up my tulip bulbs. This is particularly surprising since I live on the fourth floor and just have a small balcony rather than a garden, so I don't quite know how they got there. But I saw them several times so I knew it was them. I felt like I was under attack and that they were taunting me. I was tempted to set up the solution described in "Militarizing Your Backyard with Python: Computer Vision and the Squirrel Hordes" [0] (although eventually went for the low tech solution of burying the bulbs below wire mesh). [0] https://us.pycon.org/2012/schedule/presentation/267/ https://us.pycon.org/2012/schedule/presentation/267/

jff 11y ago

> Landed gentry kept grays in cages [...] A Mr. Brocklehurst, who had brought over gray squirrels from America, released two on his property near Cheshire in central England. > Parker had said he wanted me to shoot the squirrel — that grays were in Britain was, after all, my fault as an American — and I did not want to. I'd say it's more the fault of the squeamish toff standing next to him, given that his ancestors may well have been among the original importers of the greys.