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| | | WILD EUROPE
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Go to the Listen Again page | | | | | Can the red squirrel survive in听 Europe if the grey squirrel spreads over the Italian Alps? | | | |
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Conflict and co-operation, challenges and solutions - Lionel Kelleway finds the inside stories wherever wildlife and people meet across the continent.
| | |  | | | The future of the red squirrel is threatened by the spread of the grey squirrel over the Italian Alps. | |  听Listen again听to the programme听 | |
Grey Squirrels
With decades of increasingly easy international travel, the problem of introduced or 鈥渁lien鈥 animal and plant species is of growing concern throughout the world. With no need for passports or papers, just a well-meaning human carrier, in the last century many species have found themselves transported to foreign climes.
Many of them have remained undetected for years and听quietly听 establish themselves in their new home. The grey squirrel for example,听may seem like part of听Britain's wildlife,听but really it a North American species, which, whilst colonising Britain, has wiped out the native red squirrel population in all but a few isolated areas.
In this week鈥檚 Wild Europe Lionel Kelleway travels to Italy, to discover how the grey squirrel听arrived there after World War Two and has now听travelled 听north 听to the听 Italian Alps. In its wake it has devastated the native red squirrel population and is听 poised to disperse across Europe. With the help of听 continuous forest and few physical barriers, their spread is likely to be rapid.
Lionel asks if there is hope for the red squirrel if the grey squirrel crosses Italy's border and colonises the rest 听of mainland Europe. | | |
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