Escaped red squirrels breed in wild

From the archive, first published Wednesday 18th Apr 2007.

Red squirrels are thought to be breeding again in the Yorkshire Dales.

Sightings of red squirrels in the wild have been reported around Kilnsey, near Skipton.

The population is likely to be linked to red squirrels that escaped from enclosures at Kilnsey Trout Farm and Park during a storm in 2005.

Park officials had believed that local grey squirrels had wiped them out.

The greys carry a Squirrelpox virus, which is harmless to them, but kills red squirrels within two weeks.

The red squirrel is now classified as an endangered species.

They are outnumbered at least 66 to one by greys, whose estimated numbers have reached more than two million.

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