DIG HIM UP AND HANG HIM

11th Duke of Bedford blamed for unstoppable grey squirrel invasion

(Thanks to Jerzy Gembura)

Comments

[Ralph]

A hundred European Starlings were released in Central Park in 1890 and 1891. Retaliation?

[funny man]

If they can make video games that critics claim
"trains you to be a soldier", why can't they make some that trains and rewards you for getting rid of these pests...?

[ligirl]

huh, now i wonder where he stached them

[Meanie the Blue]

Duke of Bedford .... Duke of Earl .... Earl Grey .... Grey Squirrel.

Yes, we can hang him.

[ligirl]

the squirrels ? - duke nukem

[ImNotDave]

I couldn't read the article, they wanted me to disable my ad blocker! THAT'S WHY I GOT IT, YA IDIOT!

[Richard the Weasel-Hearted]

ImNotDave: Try blocking JavaScript and cookies from them.

[Clankie]

Import giant pythons to eat the squirrels. Ask Florida officials how to go about it.

[Le Petomane]

There is historical precedence for digging the duke up and then hanging him. They did just that to Oliver Cromwell who died in 1658 only to be dug up and hung in 1661. I believe before that, squirrel spreading will have to be declared a capital crime. That shouldn't present a problem, but getting shed of two million plus vicious grey squirrels will be.

[MOTW]

♫ Duke .. Duke .. Duke ♫
Duke of Squirrel squirrel squirrel

At least he wasn't the Squire of Squirrel

[MOTW]

ImNotDave:

With its seemingly unstoppable spread through Britain, the grey squirrel has come to exemplify the danger posed by non-native species.

But a new study suggests that without the bungling actions of well-meaning Victorians, the squirrel would not have reached such huge numbers, or ventured so far.

Imperial College has found that the 11th Duke of Bedford, Herbrand Russell, was one of the worst culprits of ‘squirrel spreading.’

The Duke, an eminent animal conservationist, not only imported 10 of the creatures from America, but released them into the grounds of his home of Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire, and sent them to friends across the country as presents for their own estates.

He also released populations in Regent's Park, creating the current London epidemic of greys. The Duke was president of the Zoological Society of London was a champion of animal preservation throughout his life, and is thought to have saved the milu deer from extinction by instigating a successful breeding programme at Woburn Abbey.

But he also sent species of the threatened Himalayan tahr to New Zealand where they grew to such numbers that they are now hunted recreationally.

His grandson, John Russell, the 13th Duke of Bedford described him in his memoir as: "A selfish, forbidding man, with a highly developed sense of public duty and ducal responsibility, he lived a cold, aloof existence, isolated from the outside world by a mass of servants, sycophants and an eleven-mile wall."

Ouch. Talk about distancing yourself from your forebears.

[ligirl]

*snork* @ MOTW !

'As I walk through this world
Nothing can stop the Duke of Squirrel
And-a you, you are my squirl
And no one can hurt you, oh no'

[Le Petomane]

Now I have song lyrics stuck in my head along with the image of a man going platypus. Happy hour might start early today.