Red alert as disease kills 100 native squirrels on Scots estate

Published on Tuesday 23 June 2009 22:52

ABOUT 100 red squirrels have died after an estate was struck by Scotland's largest outbreak of a lethal pox.

The animals have been dying in record numbers in the grounds of Dumlanrig Castle on the Queensberry Estate in Dumfries and Galloway.

Squirrelpox is spread by grey squirrels, which it leaves unharmed. However, when it infects reds it kills them within a matter of weeks. Native red squirrels are at risk of extinction in the UK due to the rampant spread of their invasive disease-carrying grey cousins, which are originally from America.

In the past three weeks 11 dead red squirrels have been found on the Queensberry Estate, The Scotsman has learned.

Experts say this is likely to represent just 10 per cent of the total numbers of reds that have died. Most dying red squirrels would return to their drays, or would be eaten by predators after the pox rendered them blind and defenceless.

It is thought the pox has spread so rapidly through the red squirrels at Dumlanrig Castle because staff and members of the public have been feeding the creatures.

As a result, they have come into contact with each other more frequently than they would in the wild, accelerating the transmission of the pox.

Red Squirrels in South Scotland (RSSS) – the organisation behind efforts to control greys and stop the spread of the pox – has called on people living in the area to stop feeding the red squirrels.

Already estate staff have stopped giving them food, and a hide, from which visitors can view the red squirrels in a feeding area, has been closed.

Stephanie Johnstone, of RSSS, said: "We desperately need the public to help us stop this disease from spreading. We would like people in the Thornhill area to stop feeding red squirrels at feeders in their gardens for the time being.

"We know seeing red squirrels at feeders gives people an enormous amount of pleasure, but feeders are a focal point for disease transmission."

Ms Johnstone said they were expecting the populations of reds on the estate to "crash", but then to recover, because the greys that carried it would have been removed.

"We are expecting the red population to crash as the disease takes hold, but without grey squirrels present to spread the virus we are certain that the population will recover," she said.

"This is the pattern of disease spread that has been seen at outbreak sites in England."

Squirrel pox was first detected on the 120,000-acre estate in August 2008, but only in the past three weeks has the outbreak intensified.

Andy Wiseman, of RSSS, said the red squirrels were like "part of the family" at Drumlanrig Castle.

"The thought of not being able to feed them is quite traumatic for some people," he said.

However, Mr Wiseman believes red squirrels living in forests nearby will survive the outbreak and will then repopulate the area after it has died down.

Despite the scale of the outbreak in the grounds of the castle – the ancestral home of the Duke of Buccleuch – RSSS is confident they can contain it from spreading further afield.

Most of the greys on the Queensberry Estate have now been trapped and killed.

Across south Scotland, thousands of greys have been destroyed, to try to stop the pox spreading.

So far, the efforts have been successful. The pox has not been detected in any new sites since the trapping efforts began just under a year ago.

DEADLY KILLER OF THE FORESTS

MASS efforts to stop squirrel pox spreading across Scotland have so far paid off.

Most of Scotland has so far remained free of the virus.

The first known case of the pox in a red squirrel in Scotland occurred in Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, in May 2007.

This spread to the Thornhill area of Dumfries and Galloway in April 2008 and has since taken hold on the Queensberry Estate.

However, over the past year, it has not spread any further into the country.

This is likely to be largely due to the efforts of a huge team of volunteers involved in a scheme to trap and kill grey squirrels – which carry and spread the disease.

Twenty-six landowners are involved in the trapping programme as part of a private, public and voluntary sector partnership called Red Squirrels in South Scotland.

Together, they cover 133,000 hectares of land.