Scotland's red squirrels could be wiped out in a year, campaigners have said, as they urge the government to fund a squirrelpox vaccine.

While there has been a vaccine for ten years, lack of funds means it has sat on a shelf. The final stages of development include a final test on wild squirrels to see if they respond as well as they do in captivity.

Squirrel charity the Wildlife Ark Trust has been trying to raise money to roll out the vaccine, and needs around £115,000 for it to be completed.

The disease was originally brought to Britain when grey squirrels arrived, and it decimated the population of their red cousins.

It causes lesions to form on the faces of the animals, and they eventually starve to death. It is highly contagious and can be spread if one squirrel touches a nut or a tree touched by an infected animal.

Vicki Mead, who works to monitor a colony of red squirrels in Dumfries and Galloway, said Defra has ignored her plea to roll out the vaccine.

She told The Telegraph: "The greys have taken the border, the last red squirrel was sighted in the borders in 2017. That used to be a red squirrel territory.