NEWS


Please click on any of the links below for news from the year 2000. Due to space limitations, The Scholarly Squirrel regretably cannot include the countless news accounts of squirrels who have caused fires or power outages by chewing on electrical wiring. Needless to say, squirrels have wreaked havoc across the globe for chewing on power lines.


North Carolina Woman Cares for Injured Squirrels
Scotland Plans to Build Squirrel Bridges to Save Red Squirrel
Oregon Adds Ground Squirrel to List of Endangered Species
Jersey Plans to Build Mating Bridge to Save Red Squirrel
Endangered Buzzards Blamed for Decrease in Red Squirrel Population!


Elizabeth Wellington, “She's Simply Nuts About Squirrels,” News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), March 16, 2000

Sometimes newborn baby squirrels fall out of their nests or nursing moms get eaten by hawks. That's when Lucy Credle steps in for nature. Every year at the same time - right after the groundhog determines when spring will arrive and before buds start popping out on trees - Credle turns her guest bedroom in south Durham into a hospital for orphaned critters. Every two to four hours she feeds the hairless infants formula through a syringe. Then she rubs their little heads with ointment with her index finger. She burps them, kisses them, talks to them and loves them. In time their sealed eyes open. Their ears pop up away from their heads and their tails grow bushy.

In this way, over the past eight years, Credle has helped more than 600 infant squirrels and possums that would have perished grow up to be big and strong. She takes care of them from pinky-size until they are strong enough to wrestle with each other in their cages. Then, when she is sure they are ready, she releases them back into the wild, because a squirrel would much rather climb a tree than a curtain. "It's just like raising a baby," says Credle, 66, who never had babies of her own. As she talked, her index finger stroked a baby squirrel's head. "They are like my children."

Credle has the perfect background for this unusual line of work: She grew up on a farm and made her living as a nurse at Durham's VA Hospital. After retiring in 1989, she tried to fill her free time with needlework, tennis, horseback riding and skiing. She failed. So, in 1992, she took a five-week class with the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Network in Chapel Hill, where she learned to care for turtles, birds and snails. But after working with the baby squirrels and possums, she found they were the most affectionate. "They want to be with you all the time," Credle says. "They are living creatures, they deserve a chance. Usually it is our fault that something has happened to them."

By late last week, it was clear her recovery room was open for business. Baby wipes and cotton balls sat on a table covered with towels that was once the base of a Singer sewing machine. A black-and-white television sat on the floor in front of Credle's feeding chair. Eight baby squirrels and five possums are tucked away in cages. Holding a towel between her thumb and index finger, Credle picks up a possum about the size of her index finger; it weighs less than half an ounce. The little dude, his brother and his sister were rescued by a good Samaritan late last month who spotted the baby's mom reduced to road kill in the middle of the street. He checked the front pouch and noticed the babies were alive. He took them straight to Credle.

Now she feeds the possum formula through a syringe and then rubs its bottom to stimulate its bowels; it's a very delicate procedure that takes 10 minutes. "He is so precious, my precious boy," Credle coos. She will do this every day all day through November, after hurricane season ends and most of the babies are grown. Each day she will rise at 5 a.m. and feed the babies all day at two-hour intervals. Between feedings she shops and does volunteer work. Sometimes she packs the babies in a cage and brings them with her.

It can be exhausting work. On some days she doesn't stop until 1 a.m. At one point last year, Credle was rehabilitating 23 squirrels. "She is dedicated," says Ann Rogers, a friend who sometimes helps Credle with the feedings. "No one cares more than she does."

But as any good mom knows, there comes a time when you have to let go. When Credle began rehabilitating squirrels, she would name them; she doesn't anymore. Credle doesn't try to domesticate any of her orphans because it is cruel, she says, to keep them caged. "They are wild animals," she says sternly. "I don't keep them, I take care of them."

When the animals have recuperated, she releases them outside. Many of them stay close by, making homes in the trees around her house and feeding on the peanuts she frequently tosses out her window. Some animals that aren't quite ready for the wild go first to a "halfway house" for recuperating squirrels that a friend, Martha Petty, runs in Chapel Hill. There, they play in outside cages until they are ready to go free. "Usually she will stay for a while and watch them move around in the cages before she turns around and comes inside," Petty says. "She loves them; it is amazing the time and attention she puts into taking care of her little critters."


Annette MaCann, “Future Bright for Squirrel,” Herald (Scotland), February 1, 2000

Environment Minister Sarah Boyack yesterday announced plans to erect a network of tiny rope bridges across the country's trunk road network to save the endangered Scottish red squirrel, writes Annette McCann. Meanwhile, a firm which adopted a tree management scheme to encourage the spread of the red squirrel, has been awarded a Government charter mark. The Scottish Power initiative was part of a Pounds 30m investment programme following the hurricanes of 1998.

More than 120,000 squirrels from the UK population of 160,000 have made their habitats in Scotland, but concern arose last year that their numbers were dwindling because of the carnage on the roads. This prompted the first squirrel bridge scheme to be set up along the southern shores of Loch Ness by Forest Enterprise, allowing squirrels to cross the busy B852 to reach nut-rich hazel bushes.

The bridge scheme, which uses ropes about 4in thick to ensure squirrels have enough room to pass each other, was taken up in the Executive guidelines published yesterday. As well as rope bridges, the plan to make the entire 3400km trunk road network more animal-friendly includes underpasses for otters.

Ms, Boyack said of the biodiversity scheme: “Biodiversity is the variety of life. If we allow this variety to decline our natural heritage and quality of life will also decline. We would lose a major part of our identity and a primary reason why people enjoy living, working and visiting Scotland. The trunk road network represents a considerable land holding. As one would expect, it reaches most areas of Scotland and is an important part of our tourism asset. It follows, then, that those who manage the trunk road network should have as one of their objectives the protection of natural heritage and Scottish biodiversity.”

The plans also recommend creating areas of worm-rich pasture to discourage badgers from crossing: creating escape routes to allow trapped animals to climb out of ditches or gully pots and the use of reflector fencing to deter deer.


Michelle Cole, “Reclusive Squirrel Joins Endangered List,” Portland Oregonian (Oregon), January 22, 2000

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted Friday to add the Washington ground squirrel to the state's endangered species list. The squirrel joins 35 other protected species. Unlike its more industrious urban cousins, the Washington ground squirrel keeps a low profile, staying in its burrows for seven to eight months of the year. Despite its name, it is native to Oregon's sage and grasslands east of the Cascades.

Oregon Fish and Wildlife biologists think the conversion of native grasslands to irrigated crops and poplar farms has reduced the Washington squirrel population within Oregon by more than half in the past 10 years. The squirrels are now found in just three north- central counties, including a 19,000 acre swath of state-owned grassland next to the U.S. Navy's Boardman bombing range. That acreage and adjacent lands are leased to the Boeing Co. and subleased to the Inland Land Co., which plans to grow potatoes and other irrigated crops.

Under Oregon's Endangered Species Act, it is illegal to kill a protected animal on state or state-leased lands. Development may also be prohibited on state-owned or state-leased lands identified as critical habitat. Inland has agreed not to develop at least 12,200 acres identified as prime Washington ground squirrel habitat and will set aside as many as 7,800 additional acres, said Gail Achterman, an attorney for Inland. Under terms of the Endangered Species Act, other land to be developed by Inland would undergo biologists' review.

Three conservation groups -- Defenders of Wildlife, the Northwest Environmental Defense Center and the Oregon Natural Desert Association -- petitioned last year for the squirrel's protection. Karen Russell, representing the Northwest Environmental Defense Center, said Friday's decision was a "victory for the squirrel." But she said the groups still need to be vigilant on how the Boeing- leased lands are developed.


David Brown, “Jersey is Building a Bridge of Love to Save Squirrels,” Daily Telegraph (London), January 17, 2000

Red squirrels on Jersey are to be given a nine-mile "mating corridor" to help them avoid extinction. The States of Jersey Government has started to plant more than 16,000 trees and bushes in a diagonal line linking a colony at St Brelade, in the south-west of the island, with another at St Martin, in the north-east.

The move follows warnings by conservationists that the squirrels would become extinct due to in-breeding within their dwindling territorial groups. Louise Magris, the state biologist in charge of the project, said yesterday that the corridor was the best way to solve the problem.

Red squirrels, which were introduced from England and France, are treasured on Jersey, where many of them are tame enough to be fed by hand. But there are no more than 400 left. On mainland Britain, the numbers of red squirrels have declined to danger levels since the more aggressive grey squirrels were brought in from America. However, on Jersey, the reds still rule supreme because their grey cousins were never introduced.

But the loss of thousands of trees from Dutch elm disease and the ravages of the great storm of 1987 destroyed much of the red squirrels' habitat. Many hedgerows, where they hunt for food, were also grubbed out years ago as farmers tried to boost livestock and crop production. Now, Jersey's woods are too small and fragmented to support colonies of the squirrels. Traditional varieties of trees and hedgerow shrubs have been chosen for the new mating corridor to provide habitats and food supplies. Ms, Magris said: "We hope that the new tree corridor will secure the future of our red squirrels."


Jane Smernicki, “Red Squirrels Face New Threat From the Skies,” Scotland (Scotland), January 16, 2000

They are the last remaining survivors of a British species on the brink of extinction. And as if the red squirrel did not have enough to contend with in its imported aggressive cousin, the grey squirrel, and man, it is claimed it is now facing a new threat. In an ironic twist the squirrel, given a chance of survival by legal protection, has now become prey for the buzzard, whose numbers have soared after it too was granted protection under the same law.

Now landowners are calling for a cull of the birds of prey and saying the danger to the red squirrel is further evidence of the damaging impact of the huge increase in all raptors in Scotland. Lord Forteviot, of the Dupplin estate in Perthshire, which is one of the last remaining redoubts of healthy populations of red squirrel in Scotland, says there is increasing evidence to believe buzzards are driving down the red squirrel population.

Despite the commonly held view that buzzards feed only on carrion, Lord Forteviot said he had witnessed several incidents in which one of the birds had carried off a squirrel. He has called for the reintroduction of controls in order to prevent squirrel numbers dropping further. He said: "I have twice seen red squirrels taken by buzzards and, in August, I saw another attack but on that occasion the squirrel escaped. I know of other people who have seen buzzards taking red squirrels and it is a big problem, exacerbated by the fact that rabbit numbers seem to be down and the birds are looking elsewhere for food." He added: "The squirrels face a greater threat nowadays too because buzzard numbers have increased. It is not uncommon to see five birds in the air at one time on the estate. I think the buzzards should be controlled by culling, although it should be done in a legal and humane manner ."

Scotland is today home to 75% of the UK's red squirrel population. The species first ran into difficulty in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when mass deforestation in Scotland led to a dramatic decline in numbers. Following the introduction of grey squirrels in the mid 19th century, the population nosedived and conservationists have since worked to save them from extinction.

Now the red squirrel has become the latest battle in the war between landowners and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds over the increasing numbers of raptors all over Scotland and the protection they are given. Many landowners believe the birds of prey have a devastating effect on shooting estates and should be controlled. It is suspected hundreds are illegally poisoned or trapped on estates every year in Scotland.

But the RSPB has denied buzzards pose any threat to red squirrels. Andy Miles of the RSPB claimed the birds had been "demonised" and said he had yet to see any evidence of buzzards taking red squirrels. "Buzzards have made a fairly dramatic comeback only because moves have been made to protect them, although there is still a lot of illegal persecution of birds of prey in general," he said. "The birds are carrion eaters and so pose no threat to red squirrels . We are wholly opposed to culling, as is the government, which has described the persecution of birds of prey as a national disgrace." Miles does not believe the growth of the buzzard population is having a negative impact, since the rise is simply making up for the massive number of birds lost since the 1950s through shooting and poisoning.

But other organisations, which have long campaigned for the reintroduction of a control on birds of prey, have welcomed Lord Forteviot's comments. Bert Burnett of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association believes the buzzards are not only speeding up the demise of the red squirrel population but that increasing bird of prey numbers are leading to a decrease in songbird numbers. "I would estimate that we lose around 200,000 game birds every year to birds of prey, including buzzards," he added.

The buzzard population in the UK first began to decline during the myxomatosis outbreak in the 1950s which wiped out 99% of the rabbit population - a main source of food for the birds - by 1956. They also fell prey to the toxic pesticide DDT during the 1960s, when it spread through the food chain and rendered eggs sterile. Shooting and trapping also kept numbers down until the Wildlife in the Country Act 1981 protected them. Since then buzzard numbers have risen steadily, with the most recent RSPB figures recording around 6,000 breeding pairs in Scotland in 1990. Miles said this figure would have seen a "significant increase" over the past 10 years.

There are around 121,000 red squirrels in Scotland and this number continues to decrease despite the fact the species is also protected by its inclusion in the 1981 act.