awildeel

[awildeel]

In defence of grey squirrels

      Largely responsible for the decline of the UKs native red squirrel population as well as their famed destruction of tree saplings…. Grey squirrels in the UK get a bad rep, a really bad rep. Even I have held out getting too attached over the years. 

      Their reputation is such that they have been subject to systematic culls since the early 1900s and once evidence demonstrated these cheeky rodents were resistant to such procedures, multiple efforts were launched to find alternative ways to purge them from UK soil.

Grey squirrel contraception?

Scientists are currently trying to find a way to administer contraception to the greys to reduce population numbers. Their biggest hurdle at the moment is working out how to get it to just the greys in areas where red and grey populations coincide.

Kill grey squirrels bought into rescue centres?

In December 2019 it became law that injured grey squirrels and abandoned babies bought to rescue centres have to be euthanised rather than rehabilitated and released.

Pine marten reintroductions?

In the north of Wales and the Scottish highlands a cute faced native predator has been experiencing a resurgence in numbers and their renewed presence has had a dramatic effect. Grey squirrel populations in areas with pine martens have dropped off, whilst the red population has increased. Why this is happening is not well understood as both squirrel species serve as a tasty snack to the pine marten, but some keen naturalists are seeing Pine martens as a potential, albeit limited, grey population control method for the future.

Continued culls?

Many people are still advocates for the traditional cull. However, this wildly inhumane method is also...wildly ineffective. Intensely cull an area of grey squirrels and you’ll have a restored population in that area within 10 weeks… it doesn’t work, if it did we’d have wiped them out in the 1940s when culls first started. Unfortunately, some don’t listen to science and continue on even when you’re telling them the facts until you’re blue in the face.

           Now I appreciate the sentiment. We need to help the red squirrel, which is native and is struggling largely due to the presence of the greys. But regardless I struggle with dichotomy of attitudes toward one type of squirrel and the other.

They’re both living beings, they’re all individuals, and the grey squirrel should not be punished for succeeding in a climate they were artificially introduced too.

It wasn’t stowing away on boats that bought the greys here, they’d have been quite happy remaining in North America. No, the English upper class introduced grey squirrels to England in the form of a man called Thomas Brocklehurst, who released the first pair in the 1870s. From then on, they became a popular “ornamental feature” for the rich and noble to have on their grounds so they gifted breeding pairs to each other, which resulted in the greys being introduced at hundreds of different sites across the UK.

And suddenly they’re everywhere? There was no natural spread of the greys from their initial release site, tearing away all red squirrels in their path, they were released all over the UK by humans. We are the reason they’re here, we are the reason they’re everywhere.

Yet we want to take their lives and stop them breeding because they happen to out compete the native reds. This isn’t fair, at all. Its simply mankind induced natural selection – not to mention the reds have found locations to thrive where grey squirrels simply do not inhabit such as the very north of Scotland and various British islands. They’re not doomed as some would have you believe.

If the lack of morality that comes with killing an animal we bought here and released all over our country against its will is not enough to persuade you to the greys defence, then maybe the SQPV vaccine is.

Introduced to the red squirrels by the greys, who simply carry it, the squirrel parvovirus (SQPV) is the main reason for why greys have caused the red population to decline. As reds are highly vulnerable to it and die if they contract it. However, a vaccine for SQPV has been developed in the lab. This is the golden ticket for red squirrel survival and if we can give them a defence against the disease it is likely their numbers will increase even in areas occupied by greys.

Once scientists have figured out how to administer the vaccine (its better to do it without having to directly inject it as this reduces cost/stress to the animal) then its all systems go.

So there you have it, we will have a way of promoting red squirrel survival without also promoting the downfall of the greys, we don’t have to harbour resentment toward them anymore.

Defend grey squirrels. Always innocent in their existence, they will not be the reds enemy for much longer.

[awildeel]

I adore cheetahs, but so few of their cubs actually make it past their first year. 

Whether its 

- poaching

- abduction from the wild to be used as pets

- pretty much any other predator leopards/lions etc

- or just an inexperienced mum 

They have many an adversary so for any one to make it to adulthood it is a true testament to their character. 

One of my favourite facts about cheetah cubs is that the more dire the situation they grow up in, low food sources, lots of predators, the more likely to survive as adults. 

I wonder if this is because only the hardiest survive in these conditions, or because more learn to be hardy?

And does this mean we should be focusing our breeding programmes for wild cheetahs in more desolate spaces...

Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) with cubs

[awildeel]

Barefoot trails

Last night i went for a twilight walk across a set of local fields and my sandals were giving me blisters....so i just took them off (crazy i know).

Walking across grassy plains barefoot is so liberating, its something so small but it really can closer the connection to nature. 

The grass is so soft and the dried dusty mud is cold on hot feet, the most soothing sensation. Id argue that its a free moisturizer but i hold no scientific basis for this.

Of course, you need to choose somewhere with nice grassy fields and not somewhere full of spiky bits!!

Give it a try, you might surprise yourself (or decide i truly am just nuts.)

:)

[awildeel]

Peeing on camera is rude squirrel dude :’)

My Msc project is focused on grey squirrels - ive noticed whilst studying them that they all of their own personalities. This cheeky individual is the boldest of them all!

[awildeel]

Trying to explain to my family that training squirrels to use foreign apparatus (for my research project) can take anything from a day to weeks depending on the animal doesnt seem to be going well.... 

PATIENCE 

[awildeel]

Finding the beauty in social isolation

[awildeel]

The story of the window bird feeder

Sounds thrilling i know but here me out. My friend got me this bird feeder for my birthday in order to help me bring a bit of the wild to my rented accomodation. It was super exciting and my first visitor was a tree sparrow!

The seagulls then found it...

Honestly im not mad, i quite like seagulls i think theyre misunderstood and it was quite funny watching this guy try to understand the feeder!

But he was a bit rough... and the feeder clattered to the kitchen roof!

Its all good though, now he just gets food left for him on the windowsill and the feeder...well ill take that back home and use it on my bedroom window when i get back from uni 😂

[awildeel]

This video tells the story of Finlands Saimaa seals, one if the rarest seal species in the world.

They're fighting to survive a warming world, and with a little POSITIVE human intervention their population numbers are increasing. I think this story tells so much about how even a little can go a long way to help animals other than ourselves.

Check out their live cams if you want to learn more about this lovely species.

BBC News - Can Finland's Saimaa seals survive climate change?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-51762863

[awildeel]

2 out of 3 of the rarest giraffes in the world, the white giraffe, have been poached and killed in Kenya.

There doesnt appear to be any meaning behind the kills other than they were "white". It makes no sense, you kill these beautiful creatures and there wont be any more.

The wildlife trade in china, one of the biggest importers of ill gotten wildlife has been closed. What will it take for this to stop?

[awildeel]

What better female could be celebrated for international womens day than the badass leopardess?

New Insta Post :D

#internationalwomensday #womeninpower #aspire #leopard #bigcat #bigcatsofinstagram #kitten #cats #catpics #southafrica #hoedspruit

[awildeel]

The left is the cage size the pet shop reccomended, the right is the actual minimum size a hamster cage should be. Pet shops NEED to stop

Photo from Carmel Keegan - Hamsters UK Facebook

[awildeel]

Spring is upon us! the gulls shed their white winter coats in favour of their brown hoods .. spring is here!

[awildeel]

[awildeel]

Badger Culling is Pointless.

Badger Culling is a massive issue in the United Kingdom. For years, the government have endorsed initiatives to control populations in an attempt to combat the spread of Bovine TB.

Bovine TB can be catastrophic for livestock populations as it spreads easily, is an extremely unpleasant illness and is lethal. Either the disease kills the cows or the farmer does. 

The government obviously care most about the loss of revenue to farmers, and they have to be seen to be doing something about it. Unfortunately most of the actions required to reduce Bovine TB in the UK would cost the farmers revenue...so they blame the entire issue on the badgers. Who only make up a small percentage of the problem. 

Even if badger culling was effective, you’d barely be scratching the surface of the problem. But it isnt. Recent research by Dr. Matthew Silk has found culling badgers actually makes the spread of TB worse.

Why is this do you ask?

His theoretical models suggest that this is due to the social structure of wild badgers. Most badgers live in small groups (setts), and maybe one or two badgers of each sett will be affiliated with another group elsewhere (usually the males). To kill members of these setts leads to group dispersal, meaning the disease is spread further around and more quickly. Maintaining their current social structures keeps the disease /relatively/ contained. 

The question is, why are we still culling? To look busy? 

We need to be a. vaccinating our badgers not killing them, b. farming older ancestral lines of livestock that may have some form of resistance and c. farming livestock in smaller herds. 

 Sacrificing a bit of economic gain for the sake of morality and animal welfare seems like a fair price. Moreover the vaccinations will help the badgers in turn, as its a sorry death for them as well when they succumb to the disease. 

AND as we move toward a more climate friendly future, the world will have less room for cows anyway.

Work on the best way to vaccinate our wild population is ongoing... but I hope to see our other 2 factors acknowledged soon. Not ignored. 

[awildeel]

Personality!

Currently looking at what underlying factors influence personality development in animals. 

According to Wolf et al, 2008.... how individuals respond to environmental stimuli (and if they respond at all) can be an indicator for personality type :D 

[awildeel]

soft 

Brown bear nurses her cubs in Alaska’s McNeil River State Game Sanctuary

[awildeel]

“I’m gonna give you to the count of ten, to get your ugly, yellow, no good self off my property!” - Home Alone, Lost in New York. 

This Goldfinch is major gangster vibes. They usually migrate this time of year so i’m wondering what hes doing here... i guess climate change really does effect us all.

This was the only picture I took whilst I was out. Its been a crazy few weeks of Uni and I needed the fresh air. Exeter is in a kind of...dip between two hills so I headed to the top of one and just enjoyed the views out over the city. Honestly, this Goldfinch (and a few of his friends) were the only birds I saw thatd sit still long enough for a picture! (struggles of a camera that cant take good zoomed photos in motion haha XD)

H