Efforts to save Ireland’s red squirrel population have been boosted by the success of a new pilot project.
A community of the endangered species, threatened by the spread of the North American grey squirrel, has been successfully settled in Co Mayo.
Experts who last year placed five red squirrels in Belleek Woods outside Ballina, where there is no competition from greys, have confirmed the new arrivals have now started to breed.
The Republic’s National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), which started theproject in 2007, will work with the Environment and Heritage Service \[EHS] in Northern Ireland, to protect Ireland’s red squirrel population.
A survey carried out in 2007 showed that the grey squirrel is now found in 26 out of Ireland’s 32 counties. Mayo is one of the last grey squirrel-free zones.
Environment Minister John Gormley visited the wildlife project today and praised its success.
“The Red Squirrel is one of Ireland’s most endangered mammals,” he said. “It is declining at about 1 per cent per annum, so I am particularly pleased to see how well this pilot project is working.”
Transferring red squirrels to safe areas where the greys are not prevalent is one of the conservation actions being investigated as a possible tool to secure the future of the species in Ireland.