GREY squirrels are being culled in woodlands around Dursley in an attempt to protect trees and wildlife.

The Thornbury, Dursley & Yate branch of the UK & Ireland Squirrels The Grey Area has been carrying out the programme.

Around 400 squirrels have been killed in the area covered by the Ordnance Survey Map 167 - an area which includes Dursley, Thornbury, Yate, Wotton and Berkeley - since January.

Mike Popham, who represents the group, said that the grey squirrels were causing irreparable damage to woodlands and the wildlife that live there.

The squirrels are said to strip back the bark of young trees which can kill the plants.

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) confirmed that killing grey squirrels is legal.

“Grey squirrels legally can be controlled all year round by a variety of methods including shooting and trapping,” he said.

Mr Popham said: “Grey squirrels cause a lot of damage to our flora and fauna. They predate on song birds, they kill fledglings in the nest, and eat them and eat eggs as well.

“And the damage they cause to trees is incredibly extensive.”

Mr Popham said that as well as damaging existing trees, the grey squirrel also has an impact on the woodland of the future.

“They eat certain seeds and certain nuts, which leads to the woodland only regenerating certain species.

“Ash trees remain successful, because it’s not one of the grey squirrels favoured food sources, and this can result in a monoculture of ash trees.

“Some people say that isn’t a problem, and we could just have ash-land in the UK instead of the mixed broad leafed woodland such as we have in Dursley.

“The down side is that not only is that not so good for the ecology of the woodland, but ash trees are susceptible to a fungal disease called ash die back, which is fatal to the ash.

“So if only ash replaces mixed woodland, and then it becomes diseased, we might end up with no woodland at all.”

Julie Douglas, an environmental activist from the Dursley area, shares Mr Popham’s views on the need to curb the damage caused by grey squirrels. But she believes culling is not the answer.

“We don’t need to cull. Let’s look instead at how to restore balance in our woodlands.

“We’ve ended up in this state through human interference and the eradication of species.

“Grey squirrels aren’t responsible for the eradication of red squirrels, humans are, we hunted them to extinction.

“Up until the 1970s, you could get a licence to kill red squirrels. They were seen as the problem then, now it’s grey squirrel.

“If we hadn’t removed predators, such as the pine marten, the grey squirrel population wouldn’t have become so successful.

“Instead of culling, let’s have predators.

“Instead of killing squirrels, let’s reintroduce pine martens.”

Elisa Allen, director of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said: “’Culling’ - or, to call it what it really is, killing – is a hideously cruel and ineffective way to manage animal populations.

“Humans were responsible for bringing grey squirrels from America to the UK in the first place, so the least we can do is find a peaceful, humane solution to a perceived issue that we created – not catch these intelligent, social animals and blast them with a shotgun or drown, asphyxiate, or otherwise kill them.

“We’re fast destroying the natural world and all its non-human inhabitants, and we need to curb our own destructive impulses because they, not grey squirrels, are largely to blame for the decimation of woodland and the population decline of other species.”