Not sure about this.
The 150 year reign of the grey squirrel could come to a halt from DNA editing to ensure all future females are born infertile. Researchers at the Roslin Institute want to create gene-edited squirrels for eventual release into the wild.
Victorians created this problem, not clear why they introduced them into UK.
It seems like a good idea to me … 
Grey squirrels are a pest, like rats - I’d kill 'em, kill 'em all … :!:
When I was young, the woodlands in our locality were home to dozens of beautiful animals like this:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Squirrel_posing.jpg
Now there are none … 
Human meddling, could create more problems than it solves.
The Victorians did like exotic animals with no thought given to
the risk of introducing a non-native species.
Yep the grey tree rats will have to go in favour of the cute Red Squirrels.
From 2012 . This may not be as successful was thought so guess this is why they are considering DNA editing.
After what happened to the Rabbits. Probably not a good idea.
Good point, Myxomatosis is still a problem.
Chris Packham, the BBC wildlife presenter, has described those who seek to eradicate greys as "a small band of lunatics" who are "blinded by sentimental racism". He says introducing greys was a mistake by the Victorians, but that conservationists need to accept that the "perfect paradise is lost" and that non-native species are now an integral part of the UK's flora and fauna: "If the grey squirrels have to go then so do all the rabbits, hares, four of our six deer species and so on."
A reasoned opinion.
We’ve got Calicivirus if you want to get rid of rabbits it is far more effective than Myxomatosis apparently.
We’d be very happy to get rid of all our rabbits, foxes, deer, feral pigs, feral cats, you’re welcome to come and get as many as you want.
Guessing you’re not to keen on wildlife.
I love native wildlife but they are being killed off by these exotic interlopers. For example cats alone kill an estimated 1 million native animals each night and have driven animals like the Bilby to the brink of extinction.
We’re incredibly lucky that wildlife is not advanced enough to say …
Look at those two-legged destroyers of nature who create miles and miles of concrete and heaps of rubbishy landfill … let’s make them infertile and reclaim our planet.
Nope, it’s playing God. We’ve made a problem but to make that problem infertile to make it go away can’t be the only answer. A permanent cull.
Human Gene Editing is already here.
:eek:
Read on to learn more about human genome editing and why everyone should have a say in the decisions we make about whether and how to use this powerful technology.
A necessity some animals would agree with.
Yes, Chris Packham is so right.
I was just about to put my haporth in when you posted Cinders!
I think we have found the answer to human over breeding?
And l think it is the most humane way to eradicate invasive species
from island communities where reinfestation is not esily
accomplished!
Big question is, how do you edit millions of wild animals, not to
mention billions of humans initially??
Donkeyman!
… except understandably, a grey squirrel.
Does that include the european interlopers as well Brucy?
Donkeyman!
I think it’s a good idea .
Less pox carrying grey squirrels .
Maybe we should try it on the human race .
Poxy species that we are infesting the planet .
Britain’s entire rabbit population is at risk from a virus which can kill within 24 hours
The disease – new to the UK and spreading rapidly – is being blamed for a huge decline in the number of wild rabbits.
But experts warn the estimated one million bunnies kept as pets are now at risk from RVHD2, the latest strain of Rabbit Viral Haemorrhagic disease which came here from Europe.
It is fatal, has few obvious symptoms and once an animal is infected there is no cure.
Dr Diana Bell, a rabbit disease expert at the University of East Anglia, said: “Rabbits may be at an all-time low. When did you last see a roadkill rabbit? You don’t any more — they simply aren’t around like they used to be.”
Vets are advising rabbit owners to get their pets vaccinated as soon as possible as the disease spreads to all parts of the UK.
RHD first appeared in the Winter of 1983 in Jiangsu Province of the People’s Republic of China. It was first isolated and characterized by S.J. Liu et al. in 1984. The Chinese outbreak was spread by the angora rabbit, which had originated in Europe. Fourteen million domesticated rabbits died within nine months in the outbreak.
When the United Kingdom’s first case of RHD in 1992 was discovered, the disease was transmitted into the wild by domesticated pet rabbits.
RHD is extremely hard to locate in the wild since about 75% of rabbits with RHD will die in their burrows underground. Due to this difficulty, the morbidity and mortality estimates for RHD have a broad range. The morbidity rate ranges from 30% to 100% and the mortality rate from 40% to 100%; however, the typical mortality rate is usually around 90%.
