Squirrel's in Dublin13..

arybvtcw0eolkf

I've seen two grey squirrels in my garden (Dublin 13) just this week. I've lived in the same house for 13yrs and have never seen them before, although we do get the occassional fox.

Would there be a particular reason for this, is there anything I should do to encourage them to stay or would that be a dangerous thing to do?.

I'm living near Northern Cross/Hilton hotel Malahide road area.

Run_to_da_hills

Gray squirrels are a no no in this country
They were never native here unlike the smaller red squirrel, they can carry a disease called "pox virus" that will kill off red squirrels. They are immuned to this disease themselves.

whitser

the grounds of belcamp college has a large population of greys. now that all that land is beibg developed the greys are simply adapting and theres probably a food source in your garden eg. bird food.
i personally wouldnt encourage greys, i eat them:D

boneless

They also have a nasty habit of getting into the roofspace Mairt... be aware of this.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Wow, thanks guys thats the type of advice I need.

Whitser I'm living on the far side of the Malahide road (the posh side ) so I'm not so far from the old college.

I'll dust off the Ruger tomorrow

click here http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/19/red-squirrels-protection for a very intersesting article on grey squirrells invading england. its pretty worrying stuff, methinks i'll invest in a pellet gun.

boneless

Mairt wrote: »

Wow, thanks guys thats the type of advice I need.

Whitser I'm living on the far side of the Malahide road (the posh side ) so I'm not so far from the old college.

I'll dust off the Ruger tomorrow

I'm sure this is in jest so I will not go the whole way in saying that discharging a firearm in a built up area is a no-no...

Anyhow, my old Ruger was useless over 20 meters....:P

whitser

Mairt wrote: »

Wow, thanks guys thats the type of advice I need.

Whitser I'm living on the far side of the Malahide road (the posh side ) so I'm not so far from the old college.

I'll dust off the Ruger tomorrow

dont waste the meat. its nice, rabbity.

arybvtcw0eolkf

boneless wrote: »

I'm sure this is in jest so I will not go the whole way in saying that discharging a firearm in a built up area is a no-no...

Anyhow, my old Ruger was useless over 20 meters....:P

20 mtrs, HA I'm talking about clubbing the fecker to death :pac:

arybvtcw0eolkf

whitser wrote: »

dont waste the meat. its nice, rabbity.

I've never thought of eating it tbh.

It wasn't me!

Mairt wrote: »

I've never thought of eating it tbh.

I've heard conflicting reports from different sources. Not much intention of trying it myself either way, but squirrels seem to be the marmite of the animal kingdom.

whitser

Mairt wrote: »

I've never thought of eating it tbh.

skin him a feed him to your bull terriers. nice protein filled snack for them.

arybvtcw0eolkf

whitser wrote: »

skin him a feed him to your bull terriers. nice protein filled snack for them.

Actually I was thinking that last night, as I was having a drink in Campions and remembering what you said about Belcamp College.

If your ever going up there (Belcamp College) drop me a PM if you fancy hooking up, we can check out some wildlife.

Hendrix89

Why don't you think about calling out people experienced in catching the squirrels (not sure exactly who does it though). At least this way they would be humanely euthanized. Don't know if you were being serious or not, but shooting at them with a pellet gun doesn't seem suitable.

BigAl>>

Hendrix89 wrote: »

Why don't you think about calling out people experienced in catching the squirrels (not sure exactly who does it though). At least this way they would be humanely euthanized. Don't know if you were being serious or not, but shooting at them with a pellet gun doesn't seem suitable.

I will happily volunteer to take care of your problem........will even take the bodies away in the trunk(lol) and feed them to the fish. As for your suggestion of using a pellet gun, its fine as long as it has sufficiant power to do the job cleanly, toys pellet guns are not up to the task.

Remember they are cute but a pest all the same and have nearly completely wiped out our red squirres...........and should be killed on sight.

If you really want to controll them there should be a price put on there head of a few euro to encourage their destuction.

boneless

I think this thread has served it's purpose folks... and Mairt, I hope the ruger doesn't have a folding stock...