Red squirrels: Knowsley greys cull plan 'disgraceful'

Reclaiming Reds said "humanely controlling numbers of non-native grey squirrels" was "vital"

A plan to create a safe environment for red squirrels at a country estate by asking the public to kill greys is "disgraceful", a campaigner has said.

Conservation group Reclaiming Reds said controlling grey squirrel numbers is essential for a plan to bring reds to Knowsley Estate to succeed.

The group wants locals to help by catching greys "for humane dispatch".

Animal rights activist Liz Sullivan said the group's plan was wrong as it normalised violence against wildlife.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said red squirrels were believed to be extinct in the area around the park, having last been seen on the estate in 2016.

However, by "stopping the spread of grey squirrels", the conservation group hopes to create conditions into which red squirrels from the National Trust site at nearby Formby could be released.

The project has received £100,000 in funding from the National Lottery and is expected to run for two years.

Ms Sullivan said grey squirrels were not responsible for the decline in the number of reds

The group's plan includes training members of the public to use live-catch traps "for the purpose of trapping grey squirrels for humane dispatch".

A spokesman said "humanely controlling numbers of non-native grey squirrels" was "vital" for the protection of reds, adding that greys were "responsible for the spread of squirrel pox" and had had a "negative impact on woodland biodiversity".

"Although some parts of the conservation efforts can understandably raise concerns, they are very carefully considered and well researched steps that are necessary to help avoid native red squirrels becoming extinct in England within the next ten years," he added.

Ms Sullivan, who has launched a petition against the plan, said the group was "seeking to exterminate grey squirrels under the guise of conservation".

"One of the methods they are employing is encouraging members of the public to loan traps from them [and] they are offering training to people to catch and kill grey squirrels," she said.

"This normalisation of violence towards wildlife is absolutely disgraceful."

She added that human activity and habitat loss had caused the decline in red squirrel numbers, not grey squirrels.