Henry V had the Battle of Agincourt, Winston Churchill had the Battle of Britain and Prince Charles now has...the Battle of the Gray Squirrels? According to Ben Webster at The Times, the current Prince of Wales and potential future monarch
Henry V had the Battle of Agincourt, Winston Churchill had the Battle of Britain and Prince Charles now has...the Battle of the Gray Squirrels? According to Ben Webster at The Times, the current Prince of Wales and potential future monarch has given his blessing to a project that would dose the little mammals with contraceptives in an effort to drastically reduce their numbers.
It’s not just some royal vendetta against small, furry critters. Erik Stokstad at Science reports that the Eastern gray squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis, native to North America, was introduced to the British Isles about 140 years ago. Since then, they have become pests, digging up gardens and killing trees by chewing around their bases. They have also outcompeted the native red squirrels in some areas, and worse, spread a disease called Parapoxvirus. While gray squirrels are immune to the disease, reds are not—according to the latest census, their numbers have dropped from about