Not in my back yard…

With Autumn well underway, the squirrels are out in force. It’s all got a bit much for one Penicuik man, Hamish Jack, who’s shot over 200 grey squirrels in his garden in the last two years. Unfortunately for him, his campaign to keep down the numbers of grey squirrels has attracted unwelcome official attention – from the police, the local council and the SSPCA – as the Midlothian Advertiser reports:

Midlothian Advertiser: Penicuik man’s crusade to cull grey squirrels

OK, you might think that Mr Jack’s gone too far in his efforts by resorting to drowning the squirrels. But he has some reason to feel that he’s getting a raw deal. Even one squirrel can be a pest and possibly a danger to your home, if it gets into your loft. Two hundred of them in two years is no laughing matter (and that’s just the ones he’s caught). And, in the absence of any clear guidance on what to do about them, it’s scarcely surprising – though still reprehensible – if some people do go too far.

As Mr Jack points out, we’re being told repeatedly that grey squirrels are a threat to the native red squirrels. It wouldn’t be too much to ask for pointers on what to do about them, would it? (And with food prices rising all the time, there’s certainly one useful thing that could be done: eat them…)