King Charles, at war with the gray squirrels. The British monarch has braved the heat wave for the cause of red squirrels
King Charles III, in a veritable “war” against the breeding of gray squirrels, visited a government center on Tuesday that is testing the administration of oral contraceptives for these rodents that threaten the UK's native red species, writes AFP.
The 77-year-old monarch braved the heat wave affecting the UK and parts of northern Europe and visited premises run by the Animal and Plant Health Agency in York County, northern England, a center specializing in monitoring and protecting the health of animals and plants.
At that center, scientists are working on a pilot project aimed at “humanely” regulating the population of gray squirrels, an invasive species imported from North America in the late 19th century that has gradually begun to replace red squirrels, a native species commonly found throughout Eurasia.
To achieve their goal, they developed a method of administering oral contraceptives to gray squirrels through a feeding program. The program was announced in 2022 and the first tests have just started, notes Agerpres.
“Without your support, this program would not exist,” King Charles told Dr. Julie Lane, director of that facility's National Wildlife Management Center. She welcomed the sovereign's long-standing commitment to protecting red squirrels.
King Charles III, long committed to the defense of biodiversity, patronizes the Red Squirrel Survival Trust (RSST), a British organization dedicated to protecting the red-furred species.
The Times reported in late April that the British monarch had made “a very generous donation” to that association.
In 2018, his eldest son, Crown Prince William, recalled his father's fascination with red squirrels in an interview with Country Life magazine, revealing that King Charles used to name those who lived near his Balmoral Estate residence in Scotland.
In 2021, King Charles was photographed next to an imposing stuffed toy of a red squirrel.
According to government figures, there are only between 120,000 and 160,000 red squirrels left in the UK, mainly in Scotland, compared to the estimated 2.7 million gray squirrels that live in the UK.
Red squirrels are more fragile than their gray “cousins” and also need more space for each individual of this species.
