FAQ: What about creating red squirrel sanctuaries?
The creation of red squirrel sanctuaries could allow red squirrels to survive in small pockets across Scotland, however our project is trying to project the red squirrel as a wild native Scottish mammal. The project will collaborate with Forestry Commission Scotland in developing ‘red squirrel strongholds’; large areas of habitat which suit red squirrels but which are managed so as to make them unattractive to grey squirrels. These will act as refuges for a number of red squirrel populations if our project is not successful in checking the spread of grey squirrels across Scotland in the long-term.
At this time, the prevention of grey squirrel spread in key areas of north Scotland is the only solution in the short-term to help red squirrels survive in the wild.
