The BBC is being criticized for refusing to broadcast scenes of gray squirrels being killed and eaten, even though it is allegedly responsible for the killings in the first place.
The criticism came from Robert Page, chairman of the Countryside Restoration Trust, as he accepted his new role as patron of the Save Our Squirrels (SOS) charity.
BBC executives pulled a section of The One Show last week, saying that squirrels ‘could not be seen to be losing their lives for entertainment purposes’.
Mr Page, however, claimed that eating grey squirrels was an effective way of controlling the population and safeguarding the UK’s red squirrel population.
He said: “It was remarkable. The BBC had three grey squirrels shot to be eaten, as that is one sensible way of reducing the grey population.
"...Grey squirrel is widely eaten in the USA – it is a good, nutritious, white meat and so eating grey squirrel could be an important contribution to saving the reds. Obviously partisan BBC executives are incapable of understanding this.”
...The charity is campaigning for more measures to control the population of greys, and save the red squirrels from extinction.
Well, to kill one species to save another....? I understand the sentiment and I have heard that gray squirrels do compete with the reds for habitat, but is this the only way?
By the way, gray squirrel is widely eaten in the US? Really?
Photo provided by Beedle Um Bum
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