Brother in law shooting grey squirrels

[NettleMania]

Is this an okay thing to do? AIBU to have a go if it's in his own garden?

I'm a bit conflicted as I have a live and let live attitude towards animals, but BIL swears it's not illegal to shoot them, that they're vermin and have chased off all our native red squirrels and that they're eating all the food he puts out for the birds.

He has tried other ways to get rid of them, but they are determined. My DS just shrugs and carries on with her knitting!

As someone who regularly feeds them at the local park, i'm horrified! Evil, evil *.

@gogohm

It's not illegal, but ethically you should eat anything you shoot, the pelts can be used to make clothing/throws too. There was someone on tv talking about it the other day, very good in curry apparently.

Why is it more ethical to eat or use it? Unless there is no other options of course. In the UK there are plenty of other options to eating animals and therefore we eat them because they taste nice in the most part. By the way I'm not vegan I've just never really 'got' the argument about killing to eat in the UK. At the end of the day it's all for our convenience..

Slugs are a menace. They carry lung worm parasites which if caught by a human actually presents as brain worms. Yes worms living on your brain. Until you die, years later. An Australian man discovered this when he ate a slug on a dare.

I don’t kill them...but I don’t touch them either. I probably would cull them if they overpopulated and were eating all my plants.

@SexyNeckbeard

What about other things we think are pests like slugs? Can we kill slugs? Leather jackets? If its wrong to take a mouse or squirrels life what about insects?

I don't have any need to kill slugs so I don't. I don't wear leather.

Are you trying to say I'm as bad as some of the nutters on here who kill innocent creatures for their own benefit because I have rescued predators?

Yes. Got it. I mean, having a mouse killing cat or three patrolling your home isn’t that much different from riding around on a horse following your fox killing dogs is it? You still have blood on your hands. Only difference is that mice are over populated but foxes are under populated and so deserve protection.

As long as he's a good shot it's a great method of pest control. Very little effect on other species population (if he's at it all year every day I guess he may put off some nesting birds in the immediate area but it seems unlikely) and is an instant kill.

My OH is a pest controller and usually only has ones in cages to dispatch. Its against the law to trap and release.

I've been pleasently surprised with how passionate most people in the industry are about wildlife conservation and balancing effective pest control with minimal effect on the surrounding environment/ecosystems. A large part of the job is prevention rather than cure

What has leather got to do with slugs?

If other people kills insects because it's convenient for them to do so (aka preventing damage to flowers/plants/fruit /veg) are they evil?

@SexyNeckbeard

What has leather got to do with slugs?

If other people kills insects because it's convenient for them to do so (aka preventing damage to flowers/plants/fruit /veg) are they evil?

No idea you asked the question 🤣

@PlanDeRaccordement

Are you trying to say I'm as bad as some of the nutters on here who kill innocent creatures for their own benefit because I have rescued predators?

Yes. Got it. I mean, having a mouse killing cat or three patrolling your home isn’t that much different from riding around on a horse following your fox killing dogs is it? You still have blood on your hands. Only difference is that mice are over populated but foxes are under populated and so deserve protection.

Ok I'm out. You're obviously one short.

@AllThingsServeTheBeam hahahaha I meant leatherjackets the crane fly larvae that live under the soil and destroy grass! Haha not leather! That's tickled me that has I can see how random my post must have looked!

@TabithaTumbler

I hope he shoots his own leg off.

With an air rifle? You'd have a job.

I'd give it a bloody good go. Do you think OP's BIL would stand still long enough for me to do it? 🤔

So killing squirrels is evil but you wanting to shoot someone’s leg off is fine?

And you don’t have a strong view? Your view is stronger than mine as you think no one should ever kill a squirrel for any reason. Mine is more moderate and is of the view that a person can kill a squirrel if there is a valid reason such as protecting a vulnerable native species.
You're not really repsonding to my query about why there appears to be so many people on mumsnet that appear to be happy to

1. kill innocent wildlife
2. are suggesting they have an aim that would rival Billy the Kid, when it comes to dispatching squirrels.

If this were Guns and ammo, then I would understand, but its a parenting site with a majority female demographic. I'm guessing that the closest that some have got to a gun on here is reading about it on Wikepedia and they're not as hard as they crack on.

[quote SexyNeckbeard]@AllThingsServeTheBeam hahahaha I meant leatherjackets the crane fly larvae that live under the soil and destroy grass! Haha not leather! That's tickled me that has I can see how random my post must have looked!

[/quote]
Ahhh! I never knew they were called that! I don't have lawn so I wouldn't really know they were there!

@wombat1a

The greys are an invasive species that needs managing, they are thinned out around here too. Most people would get rats etc sorted out so why not squirrels?

Ahh ‘thinned out’, added to the list of ‘dispatched’ and ‘culled’. If your comfortable with killing, say killed!

Ahh ‘thinned out’, added to the list of ‘dispatched’ and ‘culled’. If your comfortable with killing, say killed!

I'm not really getting this say-what-you-mean thing. No one pretends culling is not killing. It's killing for a particular purpose. If I said I had cat killed this morning that's a bit ambiguous. If I said I had it euthanised. That's clearer. But it's still dead.

@MurielSpriggs

Ahh ‘thinned out’, added to the list of ‘dispatched’ and ‘culled’. If your comfortable with killing, say killed!

I'm not really getting this say-what-you-mean thing. No one pretends culling is not killing. It's killing for a particular purpose. If I said I had cat killed this morning that's a bit ambiguous. If I said I had it euthanised. That's clearer. But it's still dead.

Exactly.

"My dad killed my mum": did he murder her? Or accidentally stab her with a kitchen fork leading to sepsis?

@Pigeoninthehouse

And you don’t have a strong view? Your view is stronger than mine as you think no one should ever kill a squirrel for any reason. Mine is more moderate and is of the view that a person can kill a squirrel if there is a valid reason such as protecting a vulnerable native species. You're not really repsonding to my query about why there appears to be so many people on mumsnet that appear to be happy to

1. kill innocent wildlife
2. are suggesting they have an aim that would rival Billy the Kid, when it comes to dispatching squirrels.

If this were Guns and ammo, then I would understand, but its a parenting site with a majority female demographic. I'm guessing that the closest that some have got to a gun on here is reading about it on Wikepedia and they're not as hard as they crack on.

You'd be very surprised then.

I used to deliver firearms for a living and about a third of all the air rifles we sold were to elderly ladies who used them to control vermin on their property.

*You'd be very surprised then.

I used to deliver firearms for a living and about a third of all the air rifles we sold were to elderly ladies who used them to control vermin on their property.*
In the UK

Yes, in the UK.

So killing squirrels is evil but you wanting to shoot someone’s leg off is fine

Not anyone's leg, just the murdering twats who kill wildlife. HTH.

Can you thank your bil (?) for me . Where I live in UK we have our adorable Red Squirrels . The march the grey must be sorted , and many land owners trap and despatch the invasive grey . I adore our reds and they must be saved . By the way it is illegal to release a trapped Squirrel .

I would say what I think of him, and anyone supporting him, but I'd be banned from here.

@clatterclatter

JFC just leave living creatures alone. They’re not doing any harm to your BIL. He’s not ‘helping reds’, he’s getting off on killing animals. He should get a squirrel proof bird feeder if he’s that arsed. But no, obviously the first reaction is to kill it.

Hear hear.

@Pigeoninthehouse

I think I have met about two people in my life that would be ok with killing a squirrel and they hunt animals too. Seems to be a disproportinate number of posters that are ok with killing animals for a site aimed at women. I am aware that women are fully capable of 'dispatching' squirrels and other 'vermin' personally I am yet to meet one in my lifetime, but I know they exist, just strange that mumsnet seems to be a haven for them.

It came up as a topic of conversation in a group of work colleagues of mine, 90% female, very 'lefty' public sector profession, several vegetarians amongst us.

Out of 8 of us 3 had an air rifle in the house for pest control and one was a shotgun and .22 rifle licence holder. It was a very illuminating conversation. Most surprising was the veggie / almost vegan if not who kept his own chickens for eggs and regularly dispatched of rats.

Is it just me who read this thread and all the talk of squirrel stew made me think of Martin on Friday Night Dinner?