Stop the grey squirrel cull in England and Scotland

The scottish WildlifeTrust ,currently have a job vacancy advertised online for a person to "control" grey squirrels in Berwick.The word control in the job advert ,is a euphanism for to kill grey squirrels.The SWT argue that in order to stop grey squirrels tranferring the lethal squirrel pox virus to red squirrels ,that they greys must be killed.In Berwick ,red squirrels are thriving,their numbers having increased in recent years.
As long ago as 2008 ,scientists proved that red squirrels in England had developed an immunity from squirrel pox.culling grey squirrels ,may work in the short term ,however once culled from one area ,they will simply recolonize.A squirrel pox vaccine is unavailable ,there is no political will to develop one.The Scottish WildlifeTrust ,will not consider the idea of moving grey squirrels from areas where they are predicted to come into contact with red squirrels ,they would rather kill them instead.Such a scheme could work given the opportunity ,it would be a worthy conservation project that would benefit both species of squirrel that are found in the British Isles,without killing them ,which should only be an absolute last resort instead of happening automatically which has become the norm .Unfortunately this capture to move to a red free environment ,would not be viable ,because grey squirrels breed all year round.Any adult greys caught to be moved would be likely to have young in their dreys .So the only option is for the SWT to stop needlessly killing them. The grey squirrel is the poor relation in Britain ,it has no conservation status as a naturalised alien species and enjoys no legal protection in stark contrast to red squirrels ,who are legally protected . Killing a red squirrel would lead to prosecution as it would be awildlife crime ,it is legal to kill a grey squirrel in Britain. Recent grey squirrel culls in Northumberland ,have seen tens of thousands of these innocent creatures killed ,at great expense to the British taxpayer ,who were not consulted before these culls took place .If you think that enough is enough and you want to stop this latest cull ,then contact Simon Milne ,Chief Excutive of the Scottish Wildlife Trust to voice your opinion.Thankyou.

Scottish wildlife Trust

Harbourside House
110 Commercial Street
Edinburgh
EH6 6NF
0131 3124703
smilne@swt.org.uk
please visit the website to accompany this petition ,for further reading.
 
http://stoppthegreysquirrelcullinenglandandscotland.webs.com/#

Dear Mr Milne,
Killing one species of squirrel to protect another is not my idea of conservation!Grey Squirrels are wildlife too,they have been in the UK ,for a long time .Trying to rid the British Isles of grey squirrels is unethical,impracticle ,and expensive to the taxpayer.Culling is futile ,grey squirrels have the capacity to bounce back .I urge you to reconsider the decision to kill grey squirrels in the name of conservation.I urge you to ballot your membership ,offering them a referendum of a yes or no to continuing the culling  of grey squirrels.Please also reconsider using National Heritage Lottery money to kill grey squirrels with.Will the Scottish Wildlife Trust please make a public statement ,giving an explanation of the scientific ecidence that their decision to kill grey squirrels was based on .
yours sincerely . 

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