Quote Originally Posted by Karen View Post
I just looked it up, because we also have red squirrels here in the US, but it is a different species - Tamiasciurus hudsonicus - instead of your red squirrels, which are Sciurus vulgaris. Have they considered importing some from France, etc., where there are also Sciurus vulgaris?
Unfortunately they would be just as vulnerable to the squirrel poxvirus. Unless a way is found to provide the red squirrel with the same immunity as the grey the population will surely continue to decline. There has been talk of a grey squirrel cull but I for one would really hate to see that happen.
Quote Originally Posted by ChrisH View Post
... the current threats to the red squirrels' continued survival are thought to be the sustained expansion of populations of the introduced grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) and with them the potential of squirrel poxvirus transmission.

Squirrelpox virus is deadly to red squirrels. Evidence suggests that it originated from grey squirrels transported from North America and, whilst they appear to carry a natural immunity to it, red squirrels do not. Animals infected with the virus seem to suffer a marked decline in their health and die within around two weeks of contracting it. At present, the spread of squirrelpox virus presents the greatest threat to retaining red squirrels across their current range.

http://www.snh.org.uk/ukredsquirrelgroup/