In article , Dwayne
writes
Of course I dont feed mice or rats? They dont eat my garden when they are
hungry. The squirrels do.

They eat my blinking seeds though I can tolerate the tinsy little mice.

--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

On Nov 21, 4:13 am, Janet Tweedy wrote:
In article , Dwayne
writes

Of course I dont feed mice or rats? They dont eat my garden when they are
hungry. The squirrels do.

They eat my blinking seeds though I can tolerate the tinsy little mice.

--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraphhttp://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk


Is hantavirus not a problem in UK?
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hanta/hps/
Although the article says its appearance is "rare",
if fails to mention that when it DOES appear it is
usually epidemic in proportion, killing 10% of those
exposed via airborne rodent feces or urine.
(Usually deer mice in the U.S., voles in U.K., but
any rodent can be a carrier showing no symptoms
at all, and any mammal can be infected. And pass it
on)

eg. via exposure to an infected person:
http://www.studysphere.com/Site/Sphere_10226.html

On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:32:16 -0000, "'Mike'" wrote:





"thelane" wrote in message
.. .
Why not a dangling bird feeder to attract the vermin, and then invite
the lads round from off the council estate with their air guns, and
whilst they are bobbing around pop the vermin off.


Air Guns?

;-{

Mike

http://f4bscale.worldonline.co.uk/pest.htm

Mr P

Dave Liquorice writes
Kill 'em, only real solution. They are legally classed as vermin, like
rats, mice etc.

Can you give me a reference to that?

--
Kay

On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 21:38:50 +0000, K wrote:

Kill 'em, only real solution. They are legally classed as vermin, like
rats, mice etc.

Can you give me a reference to that?

Wildlife and Country Side Act 1981, Part 1, Section 14 together with
Schedule 9 of said Act.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Dave Liquorice writes
On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 21:38:50 +0000, K wrote:

Kill 'em, only real solution. They are legally classed as vermin, like
rats, mice etc.

Can you give me a reference to that?

Wildlife and Country Side Act 1981, Part 1, Section 14 together with
Schedule 9 of said Act.

Am I looking at the right bit? Part 1 Section 14 says a person is guilty
of an offence if they release or allow to escape into the wild an animal
not normally resident in the UK or which is included in Schedule 9, Part
1. Schedule 9 Part 1 includes grey squirrel.

But I can't find anything which legally classes grey squirrel as vermin.
Nor anything in here which links grey squirrels with the brown rat or
with mice.
--
Kay

On Sat, 24 Nov 2007 00:20:32 +0000, K wrote:

But I can't find anything which legally classes grey squirrel as vermin.

Is there a legal definition of vermin?

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

On Sat, 24 Nov 2007 00:20:32 +0000, K wrote:

But I can't find anything which legally classes grey squirrel as vermin.

I asked if there was a legal definition of Vermin, it appears that there
isn't in UK law. However this bit of Hansard from 2003 indicates that it
is accepted the grey squirrels are "vermin".

begin
8 Oct 2003 : Column WA60
Vermin

Lord Selsdon asked Her Majesty's Government:

Which mammals and other animals are classified as "vermin".[HL4559]

Lord Whitty: There is no definition of the term "vermin" in UK law. In
such a situation the Oxford Dictionary definition should be applied.

The Oxford Dictionary defines "vermin" as "Animals of a noxious or
objectionable kind. Originally applied to reptiles, stealthy, or slinky
animals, and various wild beasts; now, excluding in US and Australia,
almost entirely restricted to those animals or birds which prey upon
preserved game . . ."

The Small Ground Vermin Traps Order 1958 and the various Spring Traps
Approval Orders, refer to "small ground vermin". Neither the orders nor
the Pests Act 1954, under which they are made, define this term or provide
an exclusive list of species. However, the following animals are listed
under various orders: moles, grey squirrels, rabbits, mink, stoats,
weasels, rabbits, rats, and mice.

Traps approved under the Spring Traps Approval Order 1995 do not apply to
small ground vermin listed in Schedules 5 and 6 to the Wildlife and
Countryside Act 1981. This means that red squirrels, dormice, water voles,
shrews, hedgehogs, polecats and a number of other species are excluded.

http://www.publications.parliament.u...o031008/text/3
1008w02.htm

I guess stoats and weasels are in the "vermin" list because they take game
birds/chicks/eggs.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Dave Liquorice writes
On Sat, 24 Nov 2007 00:20:32 +0000, K wrote:

But I can't find anything which legally classes grey squirrel as vermin.

Is there a legal definition of vermin?

Someone earlier in the thread said " They are legally classed as vermin,
like rats, mice etc." .... er, wait a minute - wasn't that you? ;-)
--
Kay

On Sat, 24 Nov 2007 22:49:09 +0000, K wrote:

Someone earlier in the thread said " They are legally classed as vermin,
like rats, mice etc." .... er, wait a minute - wasn't that you? ;-)

Well spotted but at least we have all learnt something. The statemnet
should have read "They are classed as vermin, like rats, mice etc.".

I am rather surprised that there is, apparently, no legal definition of
vermin but then leaving it open means that the dictionary definition
applies. What could be "vermin" in one place and/or situation may not be
"vermin" in another.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Dave Liquorice writes
On Sat, 24 Nov 2007 22:49:09 +0000, K wrote:

Someone earlier in the thread said " They are legally classed as vermin,
like rats, mice etc." .... er, wait a minute - wasn't that you? ;-)

Well spotted but at least we have all learnt something. The statemnet
should have read "They are classed as vermin, like rats, mice etc.".

I am rather surprised that there is, apparently, no legal definition of
vermin but then leaving it open means that the dictionary definition
applies. What could be "vermin" in one place and/or situation may not be
"vermin" in another.

Very true. I can understand how much of a nuisance grey squirrels can
be, but living in an urban area with very little in the way of wild
mammals, the very few grey squirrels we have are a welcome addition.
--
Kay

On Sun, 25 Nov 2007 19:26:47 +0000, K wrote:

What could be "vermin" in one place and/or situation may not be
"vermin" in another.

Very true. I can understand how much of a nuisance grey squirrels can
be, but living in an urban area with very little in the way of wild
mammals, the very few grey squirrels we have are a welcome addition.

Aye, living in one of the few areas of England that still has Red
Squirrels any grey that puts in an appearance is dicing with its life.
Greys have been spotted recently, there has been local fund raising for
traps and a "hotline" to one of the licenced keepers well publicised.

It's not so much the out competing, I suspect the numbers of greys could
be controlled perfectly well by culling but squirrel pox. Greys carry pox
with little or no symptoms, pox has a very high morbity rate in Reds,
killing in less than a two weeks.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail