…from 1903, there was an active effort on estates across the Highlands to trap, shoot and kill reds.<\/p>\n
By 1946, the Highland Squirrel Club had killed 102,900 squirrels and paid out \u00a31,504 in bounties.<\/p>\n
Tails were submitted as proof of kills.<\/p>\n
There are several ironies in the story of the club, which was formed in 1903.<\/p>\n
Reds were extinct, or on the brink of extinction, in the Highlands by the 1800s because of a loss of woodland habitat.<\/p>\n
In 1844, Lady Lovat of Beaufort Estate near Beauly, succeeded in getting the government to re-introduce the squirrels to the Highlands.<\/p>\n
Ian Collier, of the Highland Red Squirrel Group – a modern day organisation set up to protect reds – believed the creatures were seen by some owners of “big houses” as a “fashion accessory” to add to their landscaped gardens.<\/p>\n
Mr Collier said: “What is ironic is that many of the red squirrels were re-introduced from England, now among the worst-hit areas for squirrel pox, which kills reds.<\/p>\n
“Other reds were introduced from populations in Sweden.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m not sorry that the squirrel-human gyre keeps widening. There was apparently a time, not long ago, that the Squirrel Clubs of the Scottish Highlands had their sites on the Reds. This week the BBC published in a historical report, ‘Send Me Tails of Red Squirrels’ that …from 1903, there was an active effort on … <\/p>\n
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