§ Lord Inglewoodasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have any plans to continue research into the feasibility of using contraception to control grey squirrels now that the Forestry Commission and its research partners have discontinued their work in this area. [HL1428]
§ Lord WhittyThe grey squirrel is a long-established invasive non-native species which has impacted significantly on native wildlife and also causes significant economic damage. Article 8(h) of the Convention on Biological Diversity places obligations on contracting parties to take action in respect of invasive non-native species.
Research was undertaken into the feasibility of using contraception to control the impact of grey squirrels, with input from the Forestry Commission and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, but this was discontinued in 2002 when the results failed to give the partners any promise of a practical application in a reasonable time-frame. Although laboratory trials of the technique had proved encouraging, enclosure and field trials were inconclusive and highlighted the enormous difficulties of putting such a method into practice.
Further research on contraceptive vaccines is likely to be extremely costly and the Government have no plans to continue it at present. Nevertheless, we retain a strong interest in non-lethal and humane measures for controlling populations of wild animals that cause problems. Government scientists will keep a technology watch on developments that might offer innovative techniques of wildlife management. Departments and agencies involved in wildlife management and woodland protection have to weigh priorities very carefully among the many calls on their research budgets.