Thanks a bunch America

[STEED]

Now your bullyboy Grey squirrel is not happy with it's bullyboy tactics now it's all out biological warfare.

British red squirrels may face extinction

Big News Network.com
Monday 21st August, 2006 (UPI)

British scientists say they've determined, for the first time, the catastrophic effect of a deadly virus on Britain's native red squirrels.

The research shows squirrel poxvirus is threatening to wipe out red squirrels in northern England within 10 years. In areas where the virus has been detected, the rate of decline in reds is 17-to-25 times higher than where there has been no outbreak.

Until now the reds' main survival challenge was believed to be competition with gray squirrels over resources. However, scientists say their research highlights the urgency for new conservation strategies for the red squirrel -- a species that has been in Britain for 10,000 years and is protected under the nation's Wildlife and Countryside Act.

Squirrel poxvirus is passed to reds by gray squirrels, and probably arrived to Britain with some of the grays that were introduced from North America more than 100 years ago, researchers said. The virus does not appear to harm gray squirrels, but is fatal to reds.

The research was conducted by scientists at Newcastle University, the University of London; Scotland's Moredun Research Institute, the Zoological Society of London, and Britain's Forestry Commission.


http://www.britainnews.net/story/7eae3ec5df8a9c13