This morning it was brought to my attention that the British have begun to practice a sort of biological control of their own: eating the overinvasive grey squirrel population.
The American grey squirrel managed to invade England, and was originally believed only to compete with the British red squirrel for habitat and resources. However, it has recently been discovered that the grey squirrel has an immunological advantage as well: the squirrel poxvirus. Grey squirrels are carriers of the virus, and not affected by it. Red squirrels, once exposed, develop sores and ulcers, and eventually die, usually within two weeks. There is no vaccine for this virus, so researchers proposed strategies for heading off the disease at identified 'grey squirrel gateway' points within the country. Large culling of the grey squirrel population would be effective, but time consuming and impractical.
There are those who are willing to do their part, however. Grey squirrel removal has been done in stages, focused in small areas, and studied throughout so that time series data on both grey and red populations can be obtained. Unfortunately, it only takes a few infected greys to spread squirrel poxvirus to the reds and kill them off.
Of course, all that meat should not go to waste. And it is not, apparently. You can now get squirrel and hazelnut pâté, available at patchwork-pate.co.uk.
And now I have a confession to make. This fall I tasted my first squirrel. It was cooked in a pan, and looked like it had just been shot out of the tree, with all its limbs splayed out (no head). There were lots of small bones. There was more meat than I expected, but there were still a lot of bones. And it did not taste like chicken. It just tasted like meat. With carrots and potatoes, it wasn't too bad. I'm not sure how it would be with hazelnuts. But then, I never really was a fan of pâté; it looks too much like cat food. Seems a fitting end for a squirrel though. What would be even better is if the dog could somehow get in on it too...
