{"id":14980,"date":"2021-03-01T11:04:49","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T11:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/?p=14980"},"modified":"2021-03-05T11:09:14","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T11:09:14","slug":"are-squirrels-an-invasive-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/are-squirrels-an-invasive-species\/","title":{"rendered":"Are squirrels an invasive species?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An invasive species is an animal or plant which harms an environment after being introduced to it by humans.<\/p>\n<p>While they may be cute and seem relatively harmless, are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/wildlife-control\/squirrels\/\">squirrels<\/a> an invasive species?<\/p>\n<p>The answer to this is yes. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/wildlife-control\/squirrels\/\">grey squirrel<\/a> in particular is a highly invasive, non-native species. They were first introduced to the UK from the USA between 1976 and 1929. They\u2019re now so widespread that they\u2019re classed as one of the 100 worst global invasive species.<\/p>\n<p>Why are squirrels an invasive species?<\/p>\n<p>Grey squirrels are considered an invasive species because they have two primary negative impacts on biodiversity in the UK.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0They cause damage to trees and woodland because they strip them of their bark in order to access the sweet phloem tissue underneath. This restricts the growth of the tree and also increases the risk of it suffering fungal infection. Damage caused by squirrels more often than not results in the death of the tree.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0Egg and chick predation is another significant issue with grey squirrels. They have also pushed the native UK red squirrel to near extinction.<\/p>\n<p>If you have a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/wildlife-control\/squirrels\/\">squirrel infestation<\/a>, please call Prokill on 0800 328 9354 or contact us via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/contact-us\/\">our online form<\/a> and we\u2019ll send one of our experts out to help. We strongly advise trying to eradicate the problem yourself due to strict CRRU guidelines which must be adhered to at all times.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An invasive species is an animal or plant which harms an environment after being introduced to it by humans. While they may be cute and seem relatively harmless, are squirrels an invasive species? The answer to this is yes. The grey squirrel in particular is a highly invasive, non-native species. They were first introduced to [&hellip;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":14399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Are squirrels an invasive species? - Prokill UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/are-squirrels-an-invasive-species\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are squirrels an invasive species? - Prokill UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An invasive species is an animal or plant which harms an environment after being introduced to it by humans. While they may be cute and seem relatively harmless, are squirrels an invasive species? The answer to this is yes. The grey squirrel in particular is a highly invasive, non-native species. 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