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!

We shoot (and eat) grey squirrels, have done for years. They are an invasive species and have caused great harm to the native red squirrel population. It would be better to eradicate them altogether in these islands, if only that were possible.
Likewise the bloody mink, which are occupying the otters' niche.
And the American crayfish.
And the Spanish bluebells that are interbreeding with, and crowding out, the native bluebells.
Introduction of these and other non native species has been a great mistake and altered the ecology of the UK.

Btw, to hear people describing it as “murder” is a bit weird, considering it is a legal term, applied to human beings.
But then I also “murder” rats, mice, wasps, weeds, fungi, bacteria and viruses…

[quote BeaucoupFish]@Slippy78
Oh how proud you must be to be so ‘edgy’’
‘Oooh I don’t supermarket shop I torture wildlife instead’
Aren’t you just so adorable[/quote]
Because the meat bought in a supermarket shop has had a far nicer life and more humane death than a wild pigeon or squirrel who has gone on to have an instant/ painless death 🤔

I don’t think it’s a problem that he’s culling squirrels. They’re vermin, and shooting is a humane way of dealing with them. I would be very worried that he’d accidentally shoot a cat while he was at it.

Your BIL is vile. There are also some vile posters in support of his vile " hobby" sickening and shameful.

It illegal to release a grey squirrel if you catch one. I used to do a job where I had to investigate single sitings set traps and take the trap complete with squirrel to my boss for dispatch.
For those getting upset about game such as pheasants, partridge etc being shot and eaten, you really need to think seriously about stopping eating chicken.
Game birds have a good healthy life outside before being shot (at great expense which supports the rural economy). Any chicken produced for the supermarkets even the high welfare has a dreadful life and death.
I rarely eat chicken but will happily eat game. I also raise my own lamb for the table. I see the lambs into the world and I make sure their exit is swift and humane at the hands of a licensed slaughter man. I guess that makes a really bad person because I face up to the reality of my family’s dinner.

@Anotherlovelybitofsquirrel

Your BIL is vile. There are also some vile posters in support of his vile " hobby" sickening and shameful.

I do love the irony of your username

@MurielSpriggs I didn't even twig 😂

@Polmuggle

Do people who thing this is disgusting also think trapping and poisoning rats/mice is disgusting?

Yes, I do. Squirrels, rats and mice are all amazing and worthwhile creatures in my opinion. Trapping and poisoning, and shooting or chasing with dogs, are all awful ways to kill a sentient being.

To the people who think that shooting a wild animal is humane, you are just fooling yourselves. The heads of most wild animals are very small, so that makes it very difficult to kill them outright, and if they are moving that obviously makes it even more difficult. There are very few people who shoot animals, that can put the first bullet through the brain, and anything else causes immense physical suffering. Then there is the mental suffering; many hunters "stalk" their prey, surely no-one on mumsnet is as ignorant as those who commissioned a research study in the 1990's to find out whether deer get scared when they are stalked and/or chased?

Lastly (but only because I am boring you), most hunted animals (whether hunted from someone's bedroom window, or pursued through the forests), have fellow creatures witness their terrifying deaths - do you think that that does not transmit the fear to those watching, or does that not matter either?

@HundredMilesAnHour thanks for the article - really interesting.
NB - I know three old men who shoot squirrels in the garden. Always assumed it was some sort of common hobby for domesticated men of a certain age who’ve not had adequate opportunity to express their instinct to hunt and gather.

I hope he shoots his own leg off.

…actually man up the road (my friend’s dad) hung the squirrel he shot in the garden as a warning to the other squirrels. I was pretty shocked by this as a teen.

@Polmuggle

*1u1a* I hope he shoots his own leg off.

I have to agree with this

[quote Polmuggle]@AllThingsServeTheBeam trap and release kills by disorientating and starving the animal. No better than poison.[/quote]
I can confirm it also doesn’t work. We had an issue with grey squirrels in the loft and chose to trap and release them instead of exterminating them. Not actually legal, as squirrels are vermin, but we felt it was the right thing to do.

Anyhow we Released the fuckers just over two miles away and the buggers were back in 48 hours.

[quote Polmuggle]@AllThingsServeTheBeam trap and release kills by disorientating and starving the animal. No better than poison.[/quote]
I have never released them further than my garden.

I think squirrels are cute. They don't do any harm in my garden. Dick head

@1u1a

I hope he shoots his own leg off.

I missed the update where he's using light artillery. It would take an awfully long time and a great deal of dedication with an air rifle.

@1u1a

I hope he shoots his own leg off.

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

SnugKnights from 22.35pm yesterday:

So, as long as it protects Red Squirrels (and I disagree that it does anyway), it doesn't matter how much pain and suffering is caused to another animal, or in this case, many thousands of animals, if people want them wiped out from the UK?

By the way, I don't think that the greys' were given much choice about coming to the UK - they didn't swim here...

@MsWalterMitty

I live in the Lakes and thanks to people like your bil we have seen a huge increase in Red Squirrels over recent years

I'm really pleased to hear that.

I've been to the Lakes loads of times, but have never managed to see one.

Maybe it's time for another visit.

No, it's weird. Sounds as if he likes killing things and he's trying justify. It's an animal and it's cruel

Not only that, he could end up injuring someone's pet by accident

We have a squirrel trap that stuns and kills them developed in NZ. It's good. They are invasive and if you catch them in a cage trap I don't think you can release them as they need killed.

Friends in Edinburgh have a squirrel disposal person.

So yabu and its OK to kill them

I have never released them further than my garden

Probably back in the house before you then

@spotcheck

But in defence of the squirrel... The red squirrels have been gone a long long while. I don't think the current batch of Grey's had anything to do with it

In the NW we have some quite sizable colonies of red squirrels. The greys are not only bigger and more aggressive but also spread squirrel pox. Would you complain if he was shooting rats? Just because they look cute does not mean they are not vermin.

@Mybalconyiscracking

We have woodland and loads of grey squirrels, they damage the trees and take birds eggs. We cull them.

@Mybalconyiscracking May I please strongly request that you, and everyone else on mumsnet who use that evil term "cull", use the correct word instead. The word you are looking for, and that means exactly what you are talking about, is "Kill". It seems that far too many people think that "culling" an animal is the moral thing to do. But it is not. To cull an animal is to kill it, it really is that simple, and that horrific.