Photograph by Sarah McNeil

Red Squirrel Vaccine Appeal 

The photographs show what happens to a red squirrel when it gets the disease, squirrelpox (SQP). The painful lesions spread from the skin around the eyes, nose and throat and even reach the feet, As the disease progresses the reds may die from secondary infections contracted through the raw skin but it is accepted that the vast majority, crippled and blinded and no longer able to feed themselves, starve to death. It can take a red squirrel three weeks to die after being infected with the SQP virus.
  Although the alien grey squirrels carry the SQP virus, it does not affect them. As they encroach into areas which still hold red squirrels, they infect the reds with fatal results. It has been shown that the already rapid advance of the grey squirrel into red squirrel territory, through competition for food, is increased by a factor of twenty as the reds are decimated by the disease that the greys carry.  The Wildlife Ark Trust recognised that it was essential to develop a squirrelpox vaccine if the reds were to be saved. The Moredun Research Institute at Penicuik agreed to carry out the 3 year Research programme which began in January 2009. The cost of this work is £408,000 of which the Trust has already raised £320,000. If you would like to donate to this appeal, you can make donations with credit/debit cards through donate now, or fill in and return our donations form.
  Any additional funding raised will go towards the Trust’s other red squirrel conservation work.