Britain’s red squirrel makes a come-back

Press, 31 October 1984, Page 31

Britain’s red squirrel makes a come-back

NZPA-AAP London The rare British red squirrel has returned to London’s Regent’s Park for the first time in 50 years. Four have been released in the park recently and two further pairs are joining them, the “Times” reported. In most parts of Britain, the native red squirrel has been supplanted by the larger American grey. It was once thought that the greys killed or drove away the reds, but Dr Brian Bertram, the curator of mammals at the London Zoo, said that the most likely reason for the disappearance of the reds was that greys seemed bet-’ ter able to survive periods of food shortage and to recolonise vacated areas. Most of the remaining red squirrels live in Scotland. The new arrivals at Regent’s Park were captured on the Ely Estate in Fife, Scotland, where, ironically, they have reached pest proportions. They were hand-reared and conditioned to the presence of humans at London Zoo where they were kept in an aviary and provided with nesting boxes and food hoppers. They will have access to the aviary for the time being, in case freedom

proves too much for them. Dr Bertram said he believed that “with a small amount of selective feeding, they could be re-established in Regent’s Park.” Selective food hoppers and nest boxes have been scattered about the park, working on an ingenious system of weight discrimination to discourage the greys from using them. The presence of the grey,

which is amost twice the weight of the red, triggers a lid that falls to block off the food or shelter. A trap door into the aviary works on the same principle. Very young greys are in with a chance, or course, and the older greys have been proving they are not fools — some of them have learnt to straddle the sensitive platforms and spread their weight