I am grateful to the Norn Iron bloggee for the following story from BBC Belfast which resonates in the Borders

"Grey squirrels should be given a contraceptive in a bid to prevent the wiping out of their red cousins.
That is the recommendation of a forestry expert following the publication of the 2007 Irish Squirrel Survey.
The all-Ireland report recorded no red squirrels in County Armagh with only 47 sightings across the rest of Northern Ireland in a seven-month period.
"A contraceptive product would remove the threat of red squirrel extinction," said Dr Michael Carey.
However, the co-author of the survey said such a product was not currently available.
"We first have to get it developed and then get it fed to the grey squirrels, who have the breeding capacity of rats.
"We don't want to see grey squirrels eradicated, just their number brought under control.
Virus
The Irish Squirrel Survey showed grey squirrels, which carry a virus which kills the smaller red variety, now populated a number of counties in the Republic for the first time.
It also warned if left unchecked the grey squirrel population could also affect the timber industry given its ability to remove vast amount of bark from trees.
The first grey squirrels to arrive in Ireland are thought to have been six brought over from England as a wedding present in 1911.
It is believed they were released into woods somewhere in County Longford in that same year."


Resonates here? Yes. The Red squirrel is under threat in the Borders as well but not even the Hutton Think Tank (Vermin, Squirrels and Panda section) have come up with the idea of contraception. And it is surprising that this idea emanates from Ireland given the attitude of the RC church to this practice. Condoms (for humans admittedly) were long hard to come by in Irish pharmacies south of the Border. I well remember in the 1960s an English visitor to Dublin desperate for a leg over was told in great confidence by a friendly Chemist where he could find a rubber-the only one in the 26 Counties, under 'a wee bridge' in Tipperary, behind the second loose brick from the left. And he was urged to return it after he had finished with it as 'Its used by the Tipperary Gaelic Football Team-on Saturday evenings'*

Np such problem here-we even have a chain of animal friendly pharmacies in the wilder reaches of the Whiteadder Valley-Known as
Roots the Chemist.

But do they stock The Pill for Grey Squirrels. I don't know.

I have never thought to ask

* It may still be there. Directions on request but it is possibly past its fill by date

Labels: Condoms, Low Flying Merse, Norn Iron, Squirrels

  ¶ 7:54 PM