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Lord Redesdale in a scene from Nutkin’s Last Stand – a short film by Nicholas Berger that explores the debate |
Peer takes up the gun to wipe out ‘pesky grey’
Outrage as Lib-Dem lord reveals he has killed 20,000 grey squirrels to ‘protect’ the reds
PEERS of the realm are usually associated with ermine pelts – but Tufnell Park-based Lord Rupert Redesdale is more concerned with the skins of grey squirrels.
The Lib-Dem peer was “outed” this week as the man behind a mass culling spree of the bushy-tailed rodents – and he claims his actions are part of a drive to save Britain’s native red squirrel, whose numbers have dropped at the expense of a growing grey population.
Lord Redesdale said on Monday: “Grey squirrels are pests.”
But the startling revelation that Lord Redesdale, the great-nephew of renowned society darlings the Mitford sisters, who has killed more than 20,000 grey squirrels at his country seat in Northumberland, has been greeted with outrage by a welfare charity Advocates for Animals.
They say rather than help the red squirrels, mass slaughter is cruel, counterproductive and little more than “species genocide”.
Advocates director Libby Anderson said: “We do not believe in wiping out one species to help another. This smacks of vigilante action against one species and research shows the culling of wild animals rarely produces the expected results.”
She added that to encourage red squirrels, their habitats should be protected. “There are better ways to do this. Greys prefer broadleaf woodlands while reds like pines, so it is not clear-cut how killing greys will help,” said Ms Anderson.
“Culling is inhumane. They do not stop during the breeding season, which means if you kill mothers, their young will starve to death.”
She added the demise of reds had come through a disease called “squirrel pox” which researchers at the Royal Zoological Society in Regent’s Park and Edinburgh’s Moredun Institute are studying in the hope it could help boost red numbers.
Lord Redesdale told the New Journal that with volunteers he has cleared 2,500 square miles of greys through a government-funded killing spree, using snares and air rifles.
He said grey squirrels are responsible for the lack of birds on the streets of Camden.
“We have lost sparrows and other urban birds. The grey squirrel is partly to blame. They eat the young in the nests. Tackle the greys and our birds could return.”
The red squirrel has not been seen on Hampstead Heath since the end of the Second World War.
A City of London spokeswoman said there are no figures on the Heath’s grey population, but added: “Think of a very large number, then double it.” But despite such potentially happy hunting grounds close to his London address, Lord Redesdale will not be on the Heath armed with an air rifle.
He is intent on finishing his work in the north of the country before heading to London to complete the job.
He said: “Hopefully one day we can move south and rid Camden of this unwanted pest.” |
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