This campaign has now closed
Do you love red squirrels? Is it their inquisitive nature, their twitching tail and fluffy ears? Have you seen them for yourself on the Sefton Coast? Or is it that they bring back happy childhood memories of Beatrix Potter’s Squirrel Nutkin or Tufty, the road safety squirrel. While these enduring characters live on in our memories, the real thing is in danger of extinction and needs our support to maintain its grip in our woodlands. Can you help the Lancashire Wildlife Trust save our reds?
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Situation
Facing stiff competition from its American counterpart, the grey squirrel, our smaller native red squirrels often succumb to the fatal squirrel pox virus for which there is as yet no cure. This disease has had a devastating effect in the Sefton Coastal Woodlands, reducing the population to a dangerously low level. In order to maintain their presence we need to safeguard our reds by monitoring and trapping grey squirrels in ‘buffer zones’ surrounding red squirrel refuge areas. This work is currently in progress. Only occasional sightings of red squirrels are being reported in some areas but anecdotal evidence suggests that the urban population in residential areas of Blundellsands and Crosby is hanging on. The Lancashire Wildlife Trust needs your support to continue our work programme and make sure that our children have a chance to see these characters for themselves. Please help us to ensure that Tufty and Squirrel Nutkin live on in Merseyside. We are aiming to raise a total of £64,000 with the 'matched funding' scheme.