Red squirrel colony faces extinction from deadly virus spread by grey cousins



Red squirrel numbers are plummeting at Formby due to the squirrelpox virus

One of Britain's most famous colonies of red squirrels may have been wiped out by a deadly virus, scientists fear.

A wildlife survey of a National Trust reserve in Formby, Lancs is expected to show that the red squirrel population has plummeted to dangerously low levels.

The culprit is the squirrelpox virus - a fatal disease spread by grey squirrels and which is devastating the few remaining English red squirrels.



Hundreds of animals are thought to have died in the last few months at their former stronghold on the Sefton Coast, Formby and many more are unlikely to survive the winter.



The virus arrived in October last year. Within six months the number of red squirrels.



In spring 2006 the reserve had around 1,000 red squirrels - a year later the number was down to 400.

Steve White of the Lancashire Wildlife Trust said: 'If it was only 99 per cent lethal, then at least we would be looking at the possibility of a population of naturally resistant animals that could repopulate an area. But there is no case of a squirrel in the wild ever recovering from it.'

Scientists used to assume that greys - introduced from America at the end of the 19th century - were wiping out the native red squirrels simply because they were stronger and mated for longer each year.



But a study at Newcastle University has shown that reds vanish up to 25 times more quickly in areas where the virus has a foothold.



Conservationists believe the red's best hope is a squirrelpox vaccine. However, it could be at least a decade before a safe drug is available.