Charles turns Dalek on Grey squirrels

With 3 million grey squirrels spread across Britain and only somewhere around 150,000 red squirrels, Prince Charles issued a statement that said the foreign grey squirrels need to be exterminated if the native British squirrels have any chance at survival.

His announcement is based on the thought that grey squirrels wreck the bark on trees, spread disease, kill birds, and destroy the natural habitat of the red squirrels, leading some conservationists to agree with the sentiment.

Grey squirrels, which first arrived in Britain in 1870, are known to carry squirrel pox disease and are aggressive compared to their grey counterparts.

Some animal activists however vocally spoke out against the edict, especially the RSPCA which said that such a move is inhumane and will not help save the red squirrels or control population growth of the grey.

The RSPCA agreed there is a problem, but that lethal action is not the correct way to address the overpopulation of grey squirrels, additionally they added it would cause unneeded suffering.

Incidentally, the Prince is patron of the Red Squirrel Survival Trust, leading him to make the issue of red squirrel extinction and grey squirrel destruction a matter of public knowledge.

Landowners support the movement, as grey squirrels are estimated to destroy wood at a cost of about £1 million annually.

Currently the other main animal population that the UK seeks to control via hunting is deer.