I hate squirrels, Part MCMXLIV

I have on other occasions firmly established my absolute distaste for squirrels. Occasionally I run across interesting articles backing up my opinion...

Gardener facing prosecution for releasing squirrels into the wood

When grey squirrels began preying on birds nesting in his garden, Roy Hill thought he had the humane solution. The 68-year-old former Welsh Guardsman set up a cage, captured the troublesome pests, then released them into the wild.

So Mr Hill was astonished to receive a visit from an RSPCA inspector who he said scolded him for breaking the law and threatened to haul him into court.

He was even more outraged to learn that, thanks to a bizarre quirk in the law, he would not be in any bother at all if he had simply shot the squirrels dead, rather than letting them go.

See?!? Even the law considers them shotgun fodder.

Mr Hill said yesterday: "I couldn't believe what I was hearing. What is this country coming to? It simply defies belief that I could have got into trouble for putting the squirrels back into the wild."

He acted after getting fed up with the grey squirrels damaging bird nests and stealing eggs, so bought a £19.99 humane cage in which to catch them.

They are PESTS, you nincompoop. I don't imagine you're catching the cockroaches in your kitchen in a humane trap and releasing THEM, are you?!? This is what you get by reading too much Beatrix Potter as a child, I suppose.

He said: "The RSPCA gave me an official verbal warning and said if I did it again I could be prosecuted. He said I could buy an air gun and shoot them, but not release them. I've put the trap in the greenhouse and I can't do anything now. I'm absolutely staggered.

"I could understand it if I'd been cruel to the squirrels. But I've actually been doing them a big favour."

No, you're doing all of US a favoUr by bustin' a cap in the fluff-tailed rats.

An RSPCA spokeswoman said it was not illegal to catch grey squirrels but that it was illegal to release them into the wild. She said: 'It is against the Wildlife and Country Act 1981 to release non-native species into the wild because there are problems they may cause to British wildlife such as red squirrels. Even the RSPCA could not re-release a grey squirrel.

They're NOT NATIVE. You're HARMING YOUR PRECIOUS ENVIRONMENT by re-releasing them, you idiot.

Sorry, I'm ranting here. Some people are so stupid.