Plague rats?

A few years back, maybe when I was in Qatar for the World Cup, I listened to Guy Shrubsole's book about England's lost rainforests. Cue the exciting explorations of Wistman's Wood et al. Now i am listening to his The Lie of the Land, about who owns the land and what they do with it. I'm impressed not just by his research but by his activism. And his activism is done through resolute journalism. He chases information under the Freedom of Information legislation; he tracks things down through a huge range of esoteric sources; he gets allies to ask questions in Parliament or at Church of England Synod meetings.

And he has come up with real strategies for a different style and mode of land stewardship. It's not pie in the sky: it's using existing legislation and precedent. Really good stuff.

But, he does hate squirrels. And other non-native species who have a detrimental impact on ecosystems.

This is such tricky terrain for me. Indeed, it's terrain I cannot navigate with any certainty. I would like to be on a compassionate no kill moral high ground. That would be a straightforward place to stand, and my hands would be clean, and I could look down on all the evil interveners and murderers. It is the case that I am doubtful how good any human intervention can ever be (cf the release of cane toads in Australia): we are woefully shit at anticipating unintended consequences. In an ideal world, there would be pole cats and pine martens to catch the squirrels. Though, actually, I am not so very fussed by squirrels: sure, it would be good if there were places were red squirrels were not threatened by the pox greys carry or where they would not be out competed by greys... although is that just our sentimentality? The other problems the greys cause - songbird egg predation and bark stripping - would not be an issue if we humans had not reduced habitat, felled woodlands, poisoned the countryside with insecticides etc, ploughed up and destroyed the soil and so on and so forth. The problems would be blips if we hadn't torn the very fabric of nature.

But we have. And Shrubsole, to his credit, acknowledges that this is the way it is: and it is not ideal. I don't know yet what he thinks should be done, if anything, about the squirrels, but, if I can, I'll protect this little chap from the trap.