Animals in the firing line as Defra draws up scheme to protect woodlands and limit nation’s carbon output.

Squirrels will be chemically castrated and deer will be culled, cooked and served to prisoners under net zero plans to protect England’s trees.

The Government is drawing up options to control the deer and squirrel population to protect woodlands in an effort to limit the nation’s carbon output and help native species. The Telegraph has the story.

The highest deer population for 1,000 years is devastating woodland, while grey squirrels are estimated to cost the economy £37 million per year in negative impacts to trees, whilst ravaging red squirrel populations.

The risks to woodlands also threaten to undermine efforts to increase the use of timber frame house building, under plans to reduce carbon output in the construction industry.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is due to publish both a deer and squirrel strategy to tackle the issue. 

Population control plans under consideration include: culling deer and using their meat to serve venison in prisons and hospitals; putting contraception in grey squirrel feed to effectively sterilise the population; and using gene editing technology that means grey squirrels only give birth to one sex, limiting further reproduction.

The strategies will aid long-held efforts to protect native red squirrels, while protecting government targets to have 16.5 per cent of England under tree cover by 2050 – a goal in the Environment Act which will increase tree cover to an area the size of Cheshire. 

Under previous plans, it was hoped boosting the pine marten population would also help limit grey squirrel numbers and protect the native red. Studies have shown exposure to pine martens has a strong negative effect on grey squirrel populations, but the opposite effect for red squirrels. 

Britain’s red squirrel population has fallen from around 3.5 million to just a few hundred thousand, compared to the estimated population of 2.7 million grey squirrels, following their introduction from North America in the 19th century.

Deer strategy delays

Defra’s deer strategy was due to be published last summer, but has been subjected to “frustrating” delays at ministerial level, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Lord Kinnoull, chairman of the UK Squirrel Accord, said while there were a number of non-lethal ways to control squirrels, this was not the case for deer.

He said: “The difficulty with deer is there isn’t a fertility control strategy and so control means a high calibre rifle. Such rifles are typically lethal at a two-mile range and thus experience and expertise is vital.

“When you shoot a deer in the highlands of Scotland there is an extremely efficient system of putting it into the market. The red deer that are shot in Scotland are scooped up and end up being eaten.

“In the home counties, the venison collection industry is not well developed.”

Read the full story here.